Official Proceedings of the One Hundred and Twentieth Annual Communication of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Pennsylvania
- SIGNED
- Phila., Pa: James Printing Co, 1936
Phila., Pa: James Printing Co, 1936. Very good. 8½” x 5¾”. Printed wrappers. Pp. 99 + frontis portrait and 3 unnumbered photographic plates. Very good: wrappers lightly soiled and sunned at edges; 1” ding to lower edge extending as a minor crease throughout; small dogear to first few leaves; pages lightly toned with a couple spots at edges.
This is a rare book of proceedings for an annual meeting of the African American Prince Hall Freemasons of Pennsylvania.
The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania was formed when the state's four authorized lodges came together in 1815. The lodges had been chartered by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, considered the state of origin for Prince Hall Freemasonry. The group continues to exist today, promoting fellowship, uplift and charity.
This book begins with a “Verbatim Copy” of the application and charter “of Prince Hall and others to the Grand Lodge of England” in 1784. It holds the program for the opening evening service at the First Colored Methodist Church, followed by the two-day proceedings of December 1935. It lists officers and committees, “Official Acts” and recommendations, reports on the “Condition of the Craft,” the “Home and Orphanage,” the great Masonic Hall that the group was in danger of losing and the “movement on foot to save this Historic Building.” The book lists new and suspended members, dues owed and paid, and several financial reports. There is also a musing on the current day's “uncertainty and fear”: “Folks there are who say we are facing a dark age . . . Let us not . . . become dismayed . . . right will prevail and truth will triumph and fraternalism will become the stabilizing medium of this world's unrest.”
The book features a frontis portrait of Grand Master Samuel Jennings, as well as eight other photographic images of leaders and a page dedicated “In Fraternal Remembrance” of “our faithful and ever trusted Grand Secretary” who died in 1936. There is an additional three-page “In Memoriam” list, rosters of Pennsylvania lodges and the Grand Lodges of 37 states, the District of Columbia, Haiti, Ontario and Liberia. The book was produced by Philadelphia's James Printing Co., who we discovered also printed a poster for a 1928 citywide rally for African American empowerment.
Rare. OCLC shows scarce holdings of the group's official proceedings, and none of this year's session.
This is a rare book of proceedings for an annual meeting of the African American Prince Hall Freemasons of Pennsylvania.
The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania was formed when the state's four authorized lodges came together in 1815. The lodges had been chartered by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, considered the state of origin for Prince Hall Freemasonry. The group continues to exist today, promoting fellowship, uplift and charity.
This book begins with a “Verbatim Copy” of the application and charter “of Prince Hall and others to the Grand Lodge of England” in 1784. It holds the program for the opening evening service at the First Colored Methodist Church, followed by the two-day proceedings of December 1935. It lists officers and committees, “Official Acts” and recommendations, reports on the “Condition of the Craft,” the “Home and Orphanage,” the great Masonic Hall that the group was in danger of losing and the “movement on foot to save this Historic Building.” The book lists new and suspended members, dues owed and paid, and several financial reports. There is also a musing on the current day's “uncertainty and fear”: “Folks there are who say we are facing a dark age . . . Let us not . . . become dismayed . . . right will prevail and truth will triumph and fraternalism will become the stabilizing medium of this world's unrest.”
The book features a frontis portrait of Grand Master Samuel Jennings, as well as eight other photographic images of leaders and a page dedicated “In Fraternal Remembrance” of “our faithful and ever trusted Grand Secretary” who died in 1936. There is an additional three-page “In Memoriam” list, rosters of Pennsylvania lodges and the Grand Lodges of 37 states, the District of Columbia, Haiti, Ontario and Liberia. The book was produced by Philadelphia's James Printing Co., who we discovered also printed a poster for a 1928 citywide rally for African American empowerment.
Rare. OCLC shows scarce holdings of the group's official proceedings, and none of this year's session.