Masonic Moments

[Blake Bowden]

What's the best source for obtaining stories/trivia/history for Masonic Moments? I have some documents, but they are rather lengthy.

 

[Bro. Stewart P.M.]

Brother Blake, I have served my home Lodge for almost a year now charged with the duty of the "History Moments". I have found the easiest way to put together a piece is to either condense a longer pre-published artical, or use multipul sorces combining a bit of each kind of like a term paper. All due credit is of course given to the sources/author.

Other than that good luck, there is a plethra of masonic history out here on the internet... your canvas for articals is unlimited.

 

[Robert Marshall]

Brother Stewart, would you or any other brother care to elaborate on "History Moments." We have no such thing...

 

[Bro. Stewart P.M.]

Brother Rob,

Masonic History and Education is incorporated into our stated meetings. It is usually the last order of business, a brief period of relection for the Brothers in attendence. I have discussed famous & historical Texas Masonic Brothers, Texas Masonic history, and lately a bit of general Masonic History with the Lodge.

I supposed that all Lodges in Texas had a similar program, it appears that this might not be the case... maybe you should bring this to your home Lodge Brother...

 

[Robert Marshall]

I'd certainly like to. Have you run into any issues with elderly Brothers who would rather not sit around and hear it?

 

[Bro. Stewart P.M.]

I'd certainly like to. Have you run into any issues with elderly Brothers who would rather not sit around and hear it?

Actually no. Most of the members enjoy it.

Just remember that you should keep them to 5 minutes or less, anything more than that the Brothers do get bored...

 

[Robert Marshall]

Actually no. Most of the members enjoy it.

Just remember that you should keep them to 5 minutes or less, anything more than that the Brothers do get bored...

Ah, I see. Thank you very much Brother Stewart. I appreciate your time.

 

[tomasball]

Sometimes, when there is enough material, I compose a power point show on a historical subject. I just did one on the history of tracing boards. I have found that if you are telling a good story, you can hang onto their attention for ten minutes or more.

When I'm lazy, I find a likely paper from the TLR, abbreviate it if necessary, and present it with due credit given.

I would say that our programs are attendance builders.

Tom Ball
San Juan 1173

 

[RJS]

Will you share the history of the tracing boards? I have wondered why we no longer use them.

 

[tomasball]

I would say we don't use them because we got satisfied with those awful slides we use to illustrate our lectures.

What I did was find as many pictures of tracing boards as I could, and knit them together with a talk derived from Coil's Encyclopedia and the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon website, which has a wonderful essay on them. I don't have a formal script written, although I imagine I could.

In all seriousness, I wish we could go back to carpets. Whenever I don't have anything more useful to do, I shop for floor canvasses, and try to imagine exactly what I would put on one.

 

[iainmason]

Brother Blake,
Check out the resources available from MSANA. http://www.msana.com
Look at their Publications Catalogue, lots of different items.
Also another great source is the Book The Freemason At Work by Harry Carr.
It is a question and answer format and a great resource.

Fraternally
Iainmason
A mans honour is not measured by how tall he stands,
but by how often he bends to help, comfort and teach.

 

[tomasball]

What if we set up a seperate board to trade ideas for lodge program?

 

[iainmason]

That would certainly be a good Idea.