Material about Freemasonry?

[_MrStakhanovite]

Where does a layman go to get good historical information about the Freemasons? Any topic that is associated with occult and conspiracy theories is almost impossible to find solid information on via Google.

[_gramps]

Books or Journal articles? Does it matter?

For example, I am just finishing up Gordon Wood's The Radicalism of the American Revolution. He spends only three or so pages on its history during the Revolutionary period, and perhaps a little farther back into England.

But, he does have some good footnotes on it, with books, journal articles, and unpublished Ph. D. theses. Something like that?

[_kamenraider]

http://www.masonicmoroni.com/articles.html

Not all of these articles contain accurate information, but this might be a good place to start your research.

[_MCB]

Wait until George Miller stops in. He has oodles of information. He is a liberal Mormon who specializes in Masonry and Masonic history. Do a search on him and check out his posts.

[_Polygamy-Porter]

The expose written by Captain William Morgan.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF M A S O N R Y
BY ONE OF THE FRATERNITY


http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/captmor ... ntents.htm

Morgan was killed by masons for authoring this book. His wife Lucinda had it published after his death. Later after she married George Harris, they joined the Mormon church. She became Joseph Smith's second plural wife.

Lucinda gave Joseph her deceased husband's book. A full handbook on Masonry. Shortly thereafter Joseph began revealing polygamy practices in his own modified masonic ritual.

This modified ritual is known as the Mormon temple ceremony and of course has evolved over time.

Even BYU-FARMS/MI acknowledges this fact and quotes work that labels the Mormon temple ceremony as "TRUE MASONRY"


More on Lucinda as well as her deceased husband was one of the first to be necro-dunked by the Mormons: http://masonicmoroni.com/Philalethes/mo ... morgan.htm

Other great resources detailing the links and influences of Joseph Smiths Masonry to current LDS temple rituals:

http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/mor ... luence.htm

http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/mas ... temple.htm

[_MrStakhanovite]

Gramps, anything that I can get my hands on, but I really need a intro into the topic.


Poly-P,

Awesome stuff, thanks bro

[_Blixa]

Gramps, anything that I can get my hands on, but I really need a intro into the topic.


Poly-P,

Awesome stuff, thanks bro

pm George Miller. He's the King of the Masons.

[_MrStakhanovite]

pm George Miller. He's the King of the Masons.

I'm intimidated by George.

[_Blixa]

pm George Miller. He's the King of the Masons.

I'm intimidated by George.

He doesn't bite.

[_xolotl]

I'm sure George won't mind me reproducing a list from a PM he sent me a while back.

XOLOTL- This is a very good question. Sadly for the most part there have been very few good books or articles on the subject. While there has been a substantial number of papers on the subject, the vast majority of the works are problematic. There are, however, a few that I think are accurate.

Bradley, D. "The Grand Fundamental Principles of Mormonism" Joseph Smith's Unfinished Reforemation. Sunstone (2006) (141) pp. 32-40

Homer. Masonry and Mormonism in Utah (1847-1984). Journal of Mormon History (1992) vol. 18 (2) pp. 57-96

Homer, M. "Similarity of Priesthood in Masonry": The Relationship between Freemasonry and Mormonism. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (1994) vol. 27 (3) pp. 114

Homer, M. "Why the introduce them into our inner temple?": The Masonic Influence of Mormon Denial of Priesthood Ordination to African Men. The John Whitmer Historical Assoication Journal (2006) vol. 234-259 pp. 27

John Buerger. The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship‎. (2002) pp. 244

Reading these books and articles should give you a good start. However, if you really want to understand what is going on, I would suggest actually reading about what early 19th century Masons thought of Freemasonry. The first place I would start would be Bullock who is by and far the best historian for this time period. His book is FABULOUS.

Bullock. S. Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840. (1998) pp. 448

After reading this I would suggest reading Salem Town's book which is available from Google Book.

Town, S. A System of Speculative Masonry: In Its Origin, Patronage, Dissemination. (1822) pp. 284

http://books.google.com/books?id=0ac2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PR1

After that I would read some Masonic ritual expose from the period. I would suggest Light on Masonry as a good place to start.

Bernard, D. Light on Masonry (1829) pp. 552

http://books.google.com/books?id=QlIZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA11

For fun you might want to look at the book and search within it for the name Phelps :-)

If this isn't enough for you I would suggest an array of Masonic newspapers from the time period.

Keep in mind that my request to him was for material on freemasonry AND Mormonism. This is the context for his list and material to check out.