Material about Freemasonry?

[_MrStakhanovite]

thanks Xo

[_George Miller]

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.

MrS - You are indeed right that a ratio of junk to gems when you search for Freemasonry on Google is abysmal. As Blixa noted, I don't bite (though I have been known to nibble) so feel free to contact me back channel. Xolotl thanks for posting that list of sources. As far as general Masonic information goes, I will suggest the following.

The first place I would go is to lookup Andrew Prescott's History of British Freemasonry 1425-2000. It is a excellent broad sweeping history of Freemasonry in an incredibly concise package. for what it's worth Andrew Prescott is an erudite and compelling scholar who is the Director of the Centre for Research into Freemasonry at the University of Sheffield. Anything he has written is worth reading.

Cooper, Robert L.D. Cracking the Freemasons Code: The Truth About Solomon's Key and the Brotherhood. (2007) Atria Books.
Morris, Brent. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry (2006)
Hodapp, Christopher. Freemasons For Dummies (2005)

For starters I would read a good introduction to Freemasonry. The best on the market is from Robert Cooper who is the Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. While I don't think of Dummies and Idiot's guides as high literature, I do think that the ones written for Freemasonry are relatively well done. These will give you a nice broad overview of Freemasonry and will be a good reference guide to get you familiar with the vocabulary of the craft. Of the two authors Morris's book is the more scholarly while Hodapp's is the more personal, but I would suggest the former over the latter. Note that while Hodapp's Dummies guide is good, his other literature is a bit hit and miss.

The remaining books are given in historical order and reading them in order will give you a GREAT scholarly overview of the history of Freemasonry.

Yates, Francis. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. (2001) Rutledge Press.
Churton, Tobias The Golden Builders: Alchemists, Rosicrucians, and the First Freemasons. (2005) Weiser Books.
Harrison, David. Genesis of Freemasonry. (2009) Lewis Masonic.

The above three books will give a good feel of the environment in which Freemasonry emerged. Yates is an excellent writer and I would literally suggest everything she has ever written. Churton's book is interesting, but there are some mistakes, but he is still a good read. The final write Harrison is also good, but I have found a few mistakes in his book.

Stevenson, David. The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's Century, 1590 to 1710. (1990) Cambridge University Press.
Harland-Jacobs, Jessica L. Builders of Empire: Freemasons and British Imperialism, 1717-1927 (2007) The University of North Carolina Press.
Jacob, Margaret C. Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe (1991) Oxford University Press.

The next three books are excellent and scholarly. Each of the writers are also professional historians and they put Freemasonry into context. Stevenson's work is a MUST READ and goes through the evolution of Freemasonry from the operative guilds as it happened in Scottland. Reading his books will give you a clear view of ritual evolution. Harland-Jacobs book is superb and discusses Freemasonry's emergence as a gentleman's club in England and the role Masonry played in the British Empire. Jacob's tells the story of the spread of Freemasonry on the continent of Europe and gives you a broader perspective of Freemasonry abroad.

Bullock, Stephen. Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840. (1998) The University of North Carolina Press.

Of all the books on the list this is the MUST OWN and MUST READ book for anyone interested in Mormonism and Freemasonry. This will give the perspective of what Freemasonry would have looked like to Joseph Smith and his family.

This should give you a good starting place and if there is anything specific you are interested in then please let me know.

[_MrStakhanovite]

George, that was a damn fine post, you went well above and beyond what I was expecting. Thanks for the excellent references!

[Guest]

I hope you won't mind if I may some minor qualifications on your comments.

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.

The actual situation is a bit more complicated. The available evidence argues many prominent upstate New York Masons plotted to kidnap William Morgan and ferry him to Canada, thus separating him from his publishers, and set him up financially in Canada. When Canadian Masons refused to engage in the plot, Morgan was illegally incarcerated in Fort Niagara. The available evidence suggests that rather than subject ~100 Masons to legal prosecution, that a few of the conspirators likely killed Morgan and disposed of the body. Afterwards the local Masons tried their best to protect their fellow brothers from legal prosecution. It should be noted that the leader of Royal Arch Masonry in New York ordered the conspirators to release Morgan, however, by that time Morgan was probably dead.

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.

Many secular and religious scholars have made this leap. While it is possible, it is unnecessary since Joseph Smith was showing knowledge of Masonic ritual long before Missouri. In fact Joseph Smith's knowledge of Masonic ritual is apparent in both Kirtland and New York.

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

While I think that Jerald and Sandra Tanner have done a better job reporting then facts than many others, I think their treatment is problematic on many fronts. For example they equate Joseph Smith's references to secret combinations in the Book of Mormon and the Book of Moses as evidence that Joseph Smith was inconsistent in his views of Masonry, something that is incorrect. Additionally, they fail to provide the perspective of Christian Masons during the early to mid 1820s which make sense of Joseph Smith's actions. There are many other problems in their interpretation of the data that at some point need to be remedied by the publication of these needed correctives.

[_zeezrom]

Secret combos are mentioned in the Book of Moses? Huh. I guess I better look into that.

[_George Miller]

Secret combos are mentioned in the Book of Moses? Huh. I guess I better look into that.

Yes Zeezrom they are mentioned twice in the Book of Moses in conjunction with both Cain and Lamech.

[_MrStakhanovite]

Bump, people might find this useful in light of George's apperance on Mormon Expression.