Livingston Masonic Library |
The Empire State Mason Magazine |
The following article appeared in The Empire State Mason Magazine, an official publication of The Grand Lodge of the State of New York. To subscribe to the magazine, or to read more articles of Masonic interest, visit the ESM web site.
The Empire State Mason - Fall 2005 (p. 40)
by RW Richard A. Vang, Trustee
As Freemasons we use the language of the Craftsman, and we talk of “laboring in the quarries,” a sound euphemism for the work we do on behalf of ourselves and family, Freemasonry and society at large. Whenever I hear that phrase, the image forms in my mind of a medieval stonemason, first contemplating and then carefully chiseling away at a rough ashlar. A similar image I see is that of an Arts & Crafts furniture maker lovingly shaping a piece of quarter-sawn oak into the arm of a Morris chair.
Gustav Stickley, one of the leaders of the Arts & Crafts movement in early 20th century America, learned his ideals from William Morris, his predecessor in late Victorian England, who in turn formulated his philosophy of noble craftsmanship from John Ruskin, an earlier British historian and critic of architecture. All three men believed that working with your hands, if you also used your head AND your heart, was noble. All three men also believed in mottoes. Stickley and Morris were both fond of one in particular: “The lyfe so short / the Craft so long to lerne.” This comes from the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, and I think is about as good a motto for Freemasonry as I have ever heard.
I try to hold that concept of working with my hands as being noble whenever I’m doing carpentry work or toiling in the garden. In our modern society, not all of us are fortunate enough to get to do physical labor like that. Our labors in the quarries of daily life are often filled with frustration and boredom. Elbert Hubbard, a contemporary and rival of Stickley, coined the motto, “Boredom is a matter of choice, not circumstance.” I contend here that most of us are not bored, but often we feel that the work we do is not noble.
The Livingston Masonic Library can help on both counts. Beginning this Fall, the Library is organizing “work parties” at the Utica branch. Through volunteer efforts, you and the members of your lodge or district can learn much about the Craft in a short time, use your hands and head and heart, and cure some boredom in the process.
While at the time of this writing the details are being worked out, one thing for sure is that as a participant of a work party, you’ll be able to physically handle Masonic artifacts from the collection, and learn a great deal about them. I guarantee you that in the process of helping, you’ll feel a sense of wonder and love for the Craft that would make Ruskin and Stickley proud.
So what will you do at a Library work party? For starters, we need to move artifacts to better storage locations. In contrast to the Manhattan branch, which has state-of-the-art climate-controlled storage rooms, the Utica branch has items scattered in several rooms and around the campus, some of which are actually in danger because of the storage environment or their lack of security. Following the recommendations of Catherine Walter, Curator of the Library, we need to consolidate these artifacts and put them in proper archival storage containers. This will require some real physical labor, ranging from carrying heavy or bulky items, to handling fragile artifacts with a delicate touch. You might be pounding up and down stairs, or you might be asked to sit or stand for a long period of time to inventory individual items.
The goal of this work is to aid the Trustees and Staff in their task of creating the world’s finest on-line Masonic Museum. If you have visited www.nymasoniclibrary.org on a regular basis, you’ve noticed that both Catherine and Georgia Herschfeld have been adding artifacts and books at a steady pace. But they are only two people, and in Utica we are staffed only by Volunteers. RW Charlie Haskin, 2nd VP of the Library Board, has been performing a labor of love for nearly a quarter of a century. If you visited the Library there, you have seen the tremendous job that he has done with his Volunteers. But, once again, they are few, and to be honest, not as young as they used to be, so the physical labor we now require is nearly beyond them. All of us need your help.
Once the artifacts are inventoried and organized, we need to start digitizing them. This means that you can learn, under professional guidelines, how to handle artifacts and properly store them. But more importantly, using our state-of-the-art equipment, you can enter the details into the on-line database, and scan or photograph the items so that they can eventually be uploaded to our on-line museum. Now I ask you, Brethren, if that isn’t some noble Masonic labor, what is?
For this phase of the work, the Library will also be requiring and offering training for those who want to participate. Once again, the details are being worked out at this time, but the training will most likely consist of an all-day event, beginning with training and finishing out with hands-on digitization work. Once you’ve been trained, you will be allowed (and encouraged) to return and continue working with the artifacts. The nice perk of this is that you can take what you know and apply it in your own lodge.
You or your lodge can also help this work by assisting the Library financially. Preservation materials cost money (the initial supplies will cost nearly $1500.00), and with an adequate supply, we can continue to work at a steady pace and make more materials available on-line to all of you. This “wish list”, along with full descriptions and other “Targeted Donations”, appears in full in the 2005 Annual Report of the Library: mobile museum storage cabinets, acid-free folders, archival storage boxes, book folders and boxes, and archival matting. If your lodge doesn’t have disposable funds, please consider a special fundraiser, such as a breakfast. When you’re flipping that egg over easy, it will definitely be a labor of love, and much appreciated.
One of my favorite mottoes appears at the top of this column: “Laborare est Orare.” Albert Pike, the great Masonic scholar and ritualist, was fond of this too, and he incorporated it into the 32nd Degree of the Scottish Rite (S.J.), where I learned it. It means, “to work is to pray.” There are many things to do at the Utica branch; the items mentioned above are just the beginning. As we organize and inventory the artifacts, more projects requiring loving and conscious hands will be required. If you or your lodge are interested in participating, please contact a member of the Trustees or Staff.
So mote it be.
If you would like to help the Livingston Library, please contact RW Tom Savini at (212) 337-6620, or through the web site at www.nymasoniclibrary.org. As always, remember that your donation to the Livingston Masonic Library is tax deductible.
©2005, The Empire State Mason Magazine.