Washington Masonic Library & Museum

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Washington Masonic Library & Museum

Illuminating Freemasonry’s impact on Washington State’s past, present, and future. A program of Washington Masonic Services.

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06/05/2026

Here is a fun little sneak peak into what we have been working on in the archive room!

Storing our collection of framed works was a puzzle at first. Check out our low cost, space-saving solution! We repurposed metal racks we already had and used rope to create sectional dividers, which are individually identifiable using magnetic labels. Each shelf was padded with PH neutral board, and every artwork was separated using PH neutral board or foam. The panoramic photos on the bottom shelf are further supported by wood artwork dividers. Everything is off the floor as per archival best practices, and we even have some room to grow the collection in the future! In sum-- everything is now easily located and much more safely stored for years to come!

We are busy at work over here but our permanent collection is almost completely moved into the archive room, and we are enjoying our ongoing project of processing the backlog and adding to our accessioned collection!

05/29/2026

Presentation at the Eastern Washington Lodge of Research No. 310

Thank you to the Eastern Washington Lodge of Research #310 for inviting our curator out for a Memorial Day weekend presentation in Spokane. We discussed the current projects and future plans for the Washington Masonic Library & Museum, as well as some of the history our new exhibits will cover. The presentation transitioned into a wonderful discussion about what constitutes an artifact, the importance of preservation and digitization, and the measures a Lodge can take to protect and preserve its own history for generations to come. It was our curator's first trip out to Spokane after taking the job, with hopefully many more to come!

If your Lodge would be interested in a presentation from the Washington Masonic Library & Museum, please send a request to [email protected]!

05/26/2026

An offsite storage inventory discovery

Bringing uninventoried boxes back from offsite storage is full of surprises. We recently discovered a cache of Grand Master's photographs, including this one of the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Washington Territory--GM Thornton F. McElroy. This is the first photograph of him added into our permanent collection, and was recently photographed to be included on a graphic for our newly redesigned Library &.Museum exhibit space!

What many may not know is that Brother McElroy was in the Grand Line for the Grand Lodge of Oregon when the Grand Lodge of Washington was created. He and Brother Thomas M. Reed campaigned each of the four Lodges in Washington at the time (Olympia No. 5, Steilacoom No. 8, Grand Mound No. 21, and Vancouver No. 22) before successfully bringing representatives from each together in Olympia to form the Grand Lodge of Washington on December 8, 1858. Thornton F. McElroy became our first Grand Master, and Brother Thomas M. Reed served as Grand Secretary until his death in 1906 (over 40 years!) Each of the four founding Lodges received their new numbers at the Grand Lodge of Washington's formation in 1858.

05/22/2026

Discovering the original owners of a 165 year old apron

It is often a case by case decision on whether or not to remove an artifact from its frame. Is the backing acidic? Is the piece safely stored inside the frame? Can we safely remove it? Do we have a plan for where to store the artifact once it is removed?

Our curator recently made the decision to remove this apron from its frame in order to store it in an acid-free box and better care for it going forward. The apron had been attached to the frame's backing by pins for close to a century. But this conservation decision led to an interesting discovery-- there were three names under the flap, and a clue--"Topeka Lodge No. 217". After reaching out to the Grand Lodge of Kansas, we got confirmation that two of these Masons were indeed from Kansas, and were likely a father and son duo who joined Topeka Lodge No. 217 in 1862 and 1881 respectively. How the apron ended up with us is a mystery, but we are pleased to now have contextual information about its origins, and to be able to care for it according to archival best practices going forward!

05/20/2026

A recent discovery

During last month's field trip to Cobalt Lodge No. 24 in Yakima, we made an interesting discovery. A metal gong we have in our collection has a sibling that is still in use to this day!

Cobalt Lodge #24 has many ancestor Lodges, including Yakima No. 24 and Compass No. 306. On the trip, we learned that the Yakima gong was found in Lodge storage some time ago. Brothers fixed the gong to a wood stand made by Past Master Eugene Candy, and now the gong is an important part of regular Lodge operations.

What the Lodge didn't know was that there was another gong (likely made at the same time by the same person) that had made its way to the Washington Masonic Library & Museum sometime after 2004 (the year Compass Lodge merged). Due to our ongoing digitization efforts, our curator was able to pull up a photo and share this information with the Lodge on the spot.

This is one of the joys and benefits of Lodge visits for us at the Washington Masonic Library & Museum. The unexpected surprises and ability to exchange information about items related to our jurisdiction's history. Here's to many more discoveries in the future!

05/15/2026

Fifty Years, Three Continents, One Mason.

During our recent inventory efforts, a small and unassuming briefcase tucked away on a bookshelf revealed a wonderful treasure trove of documents and ephemera connected to one Mason's life. Edward C. F. Jorgensen was made a Mason in British Oak Lodge No. 1133 in Stratford, England in 1862. Ten years later, he moved to Greymouth, New Zealand, where he joined the newly chartered Greymouth Lodge No. 1233 and became its Chaplain. Four years after that, he was back in Europe, this time in Germany where he joined a Lodge in Hamburg. By 1909, he had moved to Washington and was welcomed into Tacoma Lodge No. 22.

The most recent items found in the briefcase was correspondence in 1914 between Jorgensen and our Grand Lodge about the possibility of him and his wife moving into the new Masonic Home in Puyallup. These included pieces our Library & Museum had never seen before including a lovely postcard of proposed plans for the new home to be built on the Puyallup property, and newspaper clippings documenting the process of the build.

What a gift it is for us at the Library & Museum that he kept such a detailed account of his Masonic journey, and that these materials were found and later donated to us on behalf of his descendants. Going through the cache of documents and putting them in order allowed us to piece together the Masonic journey of a man whose travels never stopped him from promptly recommitting himself to the Craft, wherever in the world he was.

05/08/2026

Check out a recent addition to the Museum's collection: the charter for Kane Lodge No. 8!

Kane Lodge was founded in 1860 close to the town of Port Madison on the Northern shore of Bainbridge Island. When the Lodge was formed, Port Madison was a popular lumber town. In the following decades, all the timber in the surrounding area was felled and the population dwindled. Kane Lodge No. 8 surrendered its Charter in 1908.

The MW Grand Lodge of Washington recently donated this charter to the Washington Masonic Library & Museum to join our growing collection of charters from inactive Lodges. It joins two other Kane No. 8 artifacts already in our collection: an embosser and a bible both used by the Lodge.

05/05/2026

An Early Washington Settler

Did you know? The first permanent American settlement north of the Columbia River was founded by a Mason. Michael T. Simmons led a party across the Oregon Trail, arriving in Oregon Territory in 1844. The following year, the Simmons party headed north, founding Tumwater in 1845.

Simmons relocated to Olympia in 1851, where he became the founding Junior Warden of the first Masonic Lodge in Washington Territory, Olympia Lodge #1, F&AM. His Masonic apron is now preserved at the Washington Masonic Library & Museum.

05/01/2026

A Final Resting Place for Masonic Aprons

Every jurisdiction is familiar with this dilemma--what to do with the lambskin aprons brought to them by families of Brethren who have passed away? While they are intended to be buried with the Brother, often times this does not happen. Instead, many of these aprons are brought to Grand Lodge by the loved ones of the departed Mason. Several years ago, after developing quite the backlog, the Grand Lodge of Washington decided to purchase a crypt at Grand Mound Cemetery (located in Rochester) to provide a final resting place for these aprons. Since then, the Washington Masonic Library & Museum has worked with Grand Lodge to photograph and catalog every apron brought in that year. They are then interred in the crypt during an annual ceremony, held in August.

This year we have already processed 71 aprons in preparation for our August ceremony. You can view our online catalog of interred Masonic aprons through our CatalogIt database located on our website: https://www.masonscare.org/library-museum/. If you or someone you know have apron(s) that you would like to be included in this process, please contact [email protected] for more information.

Images: 1) Grand Lodge's 2023 Apron Ceremony and 2) One of the latest aprons brought in to the Library & Museum prepared for our upcoming August ceremony.

Freemasons of Washington

04/28/2026

Visit to Nile Shrine

Last week our curator was invited to visit the Nile Shrine Center in Montlake Terrace to view their archive materials. Over their existence, Nile has collected material from members related to their organization as well as to Masonry in general. Leadership at Nile offered the Washington Masonic Library & Museum the opportunity to review and collect historically significant artifacts that are not specific to the Nile Shriners. We are very grateful for their generosity and support. Some of these items will be subjects of future posts.

While there, our curator got to view a very special artifact in their collection, said to be the first American flag flown over Japan by General Douglas MacArthur. It was donated by Nile Shrine member Owen E. Cartmel, who while stationed in Japan in 1948 had been ordered by General MacArthur to replace this flag with a new one. Having been told at the time of its significance, he held on to it until donating it to the Nile eighteen years later.

Address

4970 Bridgeport Way W, University Place
University Place, WA
98467

Telephone

+12534422505

Website

https://www.masonscare.org/library-museum/

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