S. Brent Morris, 33°
1733 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009–3103

As good as it is, the Library of the Supreme Council is getting better.

The House of the Temple Library has been a regular haunt of mine for over 20 years. When I return to its books, comfortable chairs, and generous work areas, I feel like I’m visiting old friends. Perhaps I’m odd this way, but browsing through good books, whether at a library or a book store, can be the high point of a trip for me. When travelling, my children tolerate my dropping in on odd little book stores as we come across them. This is a bibliophile’s indulgence, but visiting the House of the Temple Library is a necessity for the serious Masonic student and seldom goes unrewarded.

One of the things that makes the library such a treat is its librarian. In decades past, I had the pleasure of working with Mrs. Inge Baum. In more recent years, the pleasure is working with her successor, Ms. Joan Sansbury. These skilled professionals know their collection and delight in finding what you need. They go well beyond merely helping and genuinely share your excitement as you uncover this or that previously obscure fact. The library is a living, evolving collection intended to support researchers, serve the Brethren, and inform the general public. Ms. Sansbury, as Mrs. Baum before her, does everything she can to assist the library’s patrons. Sometimes these are scholars who come from around the world. At other times, library visitors may be interested Masons or simply individuals whose curiosity has been piqued by Freemasonry. Each gets careful, courteous, efficient service.

On one of my research visits, I had a little fun with Mrs. Baum. I approached her desk, and she asked how she could help me this time. As she asked, she brought out pencil and paper to write down my request. With a straight face, I said I was looking for an original copy of the Gospel of Mark, preferably autographed by the author. Mrs. Baum carefully wrote this down, paused, looked up at me, and said, "You’re kidding, aren’t you?" I grinned, said yes, and we both had a good laugh. However, I’m confident that if I had insisted, Mrs. Baum would have double-checked her catalog before consulting with sister libraries. That’s the sort of service commonplace at the Supreme Council Library.

For example, there was the time I needed a French book about the Constitutions of 1783. I couldn’t remember the title, and I wasn’t sure of the author, but I knew it had a dark pink binding with gold stamping. That’s not much to go on. It wasn’t easy, but in less than a half hour, Ms. Sansbury asked me, "Could this be the book you’re looking for?" Need I add it was exactly the object of my search?

Living in the Washington, D.C., area, with its vast library resources, can make a researcher a bid jaded. I used some of those resources when I wrote The Folger Manuscript. Research questions took me to the Johns Hopkins University Library in Baltimore, the Surgeon General’s Library in Bethesda, the Library of Congress in Washington and, time and again, the Supreme Council’s Library. It’s easy for me to forget the luxury I have of saying, "Oh, I’ll just run down to the Library of Congress to check that out, and then drop in at the House of the Temple." It’s harder for other Brethren from outside the Washington metropolitan area to consult these sources, but the effort is always well rewarded.

In addition to in-person inquiries, the Library of the Supreme Council accepts questions by mail, telephone, fax, or e-mail. Write to 1733 16th St., NW, Washington DC 20009–3103; call 202–232–3579; fax 202–387–1843; or e-mail library@srmason-sj.org. But, please be ready to wait a little time with patience. Several requests are received every day, and there is a limited staff with many obligations aside from handling inquiries.

All Masons can take pride in the splendid Library of the Supreme Council. It has one of the most extensive collections on Freemasonry and related topics in the United States. Several years ago I was doing research on early "exposures" of the Craft. I naively asked if there were any copies of the 1760 book Jachin and Boaz. To my pleasure, there were dozens of different editions in our library!

Engravings from two editions, 1819 (l.) and 1826 (r.) demonstrate differing versions of the same illustration in The True Masonic Chart or Hieroglyphic Monitor by Jeremy Ladd Cross.

While on another research safari, I was able to pinpoint when Jeremy Ladd Cross had new engravings made for his True Masonic Chart or Hieroglyphic Monitor because I could compare the plates in the different editions from 1819 onward. When I was researching early 19th-century Freemasonry in New York, I hoped there might be some records in the Library of the Supreme Council of the several competing Grand Lodges existent at that time. My inquiry met with total victory: "Do you want records of the Philips, St. John’s, or Regular Grand Lodges? We have the Proceedings of all of them."

Perhaps the greatest delight for me when I visit the Supreme Council Library is serendipity—stumbling across books I didn’t know I wanted to read. I’m pretty familiar with the collections, having prowled through the shelves for over two decades, but I still take pleasure in turning into the wrong aisle, glancing at the titles, realizing my mistake, but pausing to check out an interesting volume, or two, or three, or more. Only through careful discipline can I accomplish my original research objectives.

The library, as good as it is, is getting even better. Since taking charge in 1993, Ms. Sansbury has put her library science training to good use. The books have been inventoried and cleaned. The catalog has been updated and computerized. The library’s lighting and climate control, insulating windows and Victorian drapes, floor coverings and furnishings have been renovated or refurbished. Everything is restored according to historical period or technically brought up to modern standards—and will be kept that way, with your help. While each Scottish Rite Mason in the Southern Jurisdiction may not have the opportunity to visit our library regularly in person, we have the opportunity to use it and can help maintain its superiority. If you come across the local history of a Lodge or other Masonic Body, send a copy to the library using the address at the head of this article. If your newspaper features the Craft in a story, send a copy. And consider remembering the House of the Temple Foundation with your gifts and in your will. Also, consider joining the "Friends of the Library." See the Grand Commander’s message in this issue for details of this group and the new Book Restoration Fund. By supporting the Library of the Supreme Council, we can all make sure that our amazing collection of Masonic knowledge continues to grow and to serve future generations of Masonic students.

S. Brent Morris is a mathematician with the federal government and has taught at Duke and Johns Hopkins Universities. He is Past Master of Patmos Lodge No. 70, Ellicott City, Maryland, a Fellow of the Philalethes Society, Editor for the Scottish Rite Research Society, former Book Review Editor of the Scottish Rite Journal, and author of many scholarly articles on the Craft as well as the intriguing cryptanalysis The Folger Manuscript and such well-known popular books on Freemasonry as Cornerstones of Freedom: A Masonic Tradition and Masonic Philanthropies, A Tradition of Caring (a second edition, updated and expanded in 1997). Ill. Morris is the only full member in the United States of the world’s premier Masonic Research Lodge, Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, founded in London in 1886.