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Masonic sites database program

Raymond Walters

Premium Member
MASONIC SITES

The focus of the Masonic Sites Program is to develop a national database of sites containing GPS locations, digital photographs, and descriptive data for each site that is of interest to Prince Hall Masons.

This database will eventually contain entries for the grave sites of notable Prince Hall Masons, the location of every PHA lodge building past and present, and every site or monument pertinent to the history of Prince Hall Masonry. That is the goal.

Eventually, as data accumulates, the Director will establish a method for sharing data with various researchers and historians. This database can eventually become an important source of historical data about Prince Hall Masonry.

The Director and Deputy Director will need the assistance of database designers, database administrators, publicists, historians across the domain, and others.

Every member of the Phylaxis Society and every Prince Hall Masons should know what we have in mind for this database.



PROGRAM DIRECTOR

The Executive Program Director of Masonic Sites and his staff will:

a. Design and maintain a database of Masonic sites.

b. Recruit a staff of Phylaxis members to assist in communicating with the various jurisdictions so that we can inform historians and other interested persons about the program.

c. Publicize the program to grand lodge historians in the Prince Hall solidarity and solicit their support in identifying historic sites in their jurisdiction.

d. Generate press releases periodically to announce the aims of the program and disperse these press releases to editors of the various grand lodge bulletins.

e. Recruit grand lodge historians from as many jurisdictions as will cooperate to serve as Masonic Sites Investigators.

f. Encourage investigators to recruit members of their jurisdictions to document Masonic sites by taking a portable GPS device and a digital camera to each lodge, monument, and grave site, recording the longitude and latitude of each site, and take photos from various points of view. Various mapping programs and programs such as “Google Earth†can be used to get the GPS location of a site.

g. Maintain contact with local chapters of the Phylaxis Society to encourage them each to appoint a local Chairman of Masonic Sites.


YOU CAN HELP

Each building used as a Masonic center should be listed in this database on the premise that it could eventually be of historic significance or may be of historical significance now.

Please submit the data on your lodge building and on any grave sites you know to the Director of Masonic Sites.



DATABASE DESIGN (PRELIMINARY)

Data field type data description
ref ID int numerical reference (key)
site name str name of person, building, or monument
site description txt narrative description of site
lontitude str GPS fix of location
latitude str GPS fix of location
street address str postal address
city str city or county of site
state str
zip str zip code if any
photo hyp link to photo
 
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