The George Washington Masonic Memorial Association has announced the creation of a new Society comprised of a select group of members dedicated to supporting the Memorial and its Mission.

The purpose of the new George Washington Memorial Society is to raise support for the George Washington Masonic Memorial and to increase awareness of the Memorial among Masons and in the community. Membership in the Society will consist exclusively of Charter Members and Regular Members.

Charter Membership will be conferred for contributions of $1,000 or more to the Memorial with the membership application during the period from the foundation of the Society through February 22, 2013, and $250 or more per year thereafter. Regular Membership will be conferred for contributions of $500 or more to the Memorial with the membership application, and $250 or more per year thereafter.

To join, see the Society's website here.


H/T Todd Eastham

The Masonic Society, the Masonic Service Association of North America, and the George Washington Masonic Memorial have collaborated on a new website that will address the references to Freemasonry found in Dan Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol.

http://www.freemasonlostsymbol.com

The website is being provided for the use of lodges and grand lodges to provide factual information to the public and the press, and as a central location for common questions and answers that will arise once the book is officially released on September 15th. The desire of TMS, MSA and the GWMM is to inform the public and Freemasons themselves about the references to the fraternity in the book, and to save us all from reinventing the wheel for hundreds of websites.

The site also contains a link to a recommended reading list, as well as to a master list of grand lodge websites.

Please spread the word.

Thanks to Mark Tabbert for the kind review of Solomon's Builders in the latest edition of The Messenger, the newsletter of the George Washington Masonic Memorial.

While I'm looking at the newest stack of publications, the Summer 2009 issue of the Scottish Rite Research Society's Plumbline is the best I have read in years. This deceivingly small 8 pages is packed with a great article by Brent Morris on "The Royal Secret in America before 1801," and an in depth review by Jay Kinney on Marsha Keith Schuchard's "Restoring The Temple Of Vision: Cabalistic Freemasonry and Stuart Culture." Given the book's $364.00 cover price, Jay has done scholars a great service in thoroughly describing the book so those of us with moths in our wallets can decide whether it is worth owning or simply hoofing it to the library. Hats off to Editor Pete Normand and Asst. Editor Michael Halloran.