Research Must Face the Internet Challenge Warns Quatuor Coronati's New Master

At the start of his inaugural address as the newly installed Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 last November, John Wade – the 2009 Prestonian Lecturer – explained how the 19th Century founders of QC Lodge had worked for a study of Freemasonry based on contemporary records.
     He drew attention to the pioneering work of W.J Hughan and Robert Freke Gould in this respect, adding that this had been greatly advanced by scholars such as Douglas Knoop in the mid-20th century, and demonstrating how those studies are still being advanced today by current members.
     The Correspondence Circle, with its worldwide membership, has been a key element in the functioning of the lodge. The questioning of those presenting papers and the subsequent recording of those questions and the responses from the speaker have been for many one of the most important aspects of the way that masonic debate has been conducted in the lodge since its foundation.
     The key function of QC, however, was the production of the annual Transactions, the Ars Quatuor Coronatorum (AQC) and, as the new Editor, John Wade was very keen to maintain the highest scholarly standards, while ensuring that the articles would be of wide interest to its readers.
     He said that in recent years the QC Correspondence Circle had been subjected to the underlying trend in the total number of Freemasons and this had naturally led to a decline in membership. To discuss and attempt to address some of the issues surrounding the problems facing the lodge, a one-day conference was organised for all lodge members at the Canonbury Academy in Islington almost exactly a year ago and a good number of members attended.
     The challenge of the Internet and its effect on masonic research was then underlined by Dr. Wade. He pointed out that the Library at Freemasons’ Hall had an online catalogue, as did the Scottish Rite in Washington DC and the Iowa Library.
     The Centre for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism at Sheffield University had Lane’s list of English lodges and Draffen’s list of Scottish lodges and a masonic digital library was about to appear in Australia. He suggested that the index to AQC could be online, as well as the Inaugural Addresses and Norman Spencer winners.
     Many primary sources were now available in electronic form, but only in universities: could one role of QC be the negotiation of access for Freemasons to these resources? These developments, he argued, underlined the importance of creating and maintaining links with other research bodies, both masonic and non-masonic, throughout the world.
     It had been a QC custom on many occasions – though not every year – to hold a meeting outside London. In June their meeting would be in Sheffield, in the Province of Yorkshire, West Riding. John Wade said that the Lodge had to consider the impact on it and its researchers of the two anniversaries coming up within the next eight years – the 200th anniversary of the United Grand Lodge of England in 2013 and the 300th anniversary of the Premier Grand Lodge in 2017.
     At the QC meeting on 1 February, Jim Daniel will deliver a Paper entitled The Masonic Observer 1856-59: a specialist masonic publication par excellence. Correspondence Circle members welcome.

History Prize for Mark Research

A research initiative into the history of Mark Masonry has been launched by the Mark Provincial Grand Master of London under the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons for England and Wales.
     It is an essay competition and Dr Andreas Önnerfors, Director of the Centre for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism at Sheffield University, and James Daniel, a leading masonic researcher, will be judges in the first year. The competition will be run on similar lines to the annual Norman B Spencer Prize, sponsored by Quatuor Coronati Lodge, and is open to anyone in good standing with a Mark lodge.
     Essays should be in English and consist of 5,000 to 10,000 words. Full details and a copy of the competition rules are available from the Secretary of the London Mark Provincial Grand Stewards’ Lodge (details in the Year Book of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of London) or go to www.markprovinceoflondon.com/grand_lodge.htm.
     The winner will receive an engraved keystone and present a summary of the essay to the London Mark Provincial Grand Stewards’ Lodge. Closing date for entries is 31st December 2010.