Bob Franks
Past District Deputy Grand Lecturer
About 15 or 20 years ago, when I was avidly buying books on Freemasonry, I kept hearing about Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, but I couldn't find anywhere to buy one and was told it was out of print. After a while, I discovered one of my Lodge brothers had one though, and would loan me requested volumes if I wanted to read up on something.
It occurred to me after a while that maybe other brothers might have interesting books on Masonry, but not many other people knew they were nearby.
How about bringing all the titles together in a library?
Not the books...the titles.
Disclaimer Notice: The "We've never done it this way" attitudes prevailed and the idea never took off.
I still have a packet of 3x5" (that's 7.5x12.5cm) index cards with the title, author, and name of the book owner on each. I typed out an alphabetical list of the books and passed it out a few times at Lodge, first with my books on it, then later with a few owned by other brothers. Not many ever told me what books they might have.
If you wanted a book on the list to research or just read, you could call me and I could direct you to the brother who owned the book, or if the owner wanted to remain private, I'd be willing to arrange to get the book and pass it to you.
I never got a call, not one.
Just wanted to pass the idea along, in case another brother could use it.
S&F
It occurred to me after a while that maybe other brothers might have interesting books on Masonry, but not many other people knew they were nearby.
How about bringing all the titles together in a library?
Not the books...the titles.
Disclaimer Notice: The "We've never done it this way" attitudes prevailed and the idea never took off.
I still have a packet of 3x5" (that's 7.5x12.5cm) index cards with the title, author, and name of the book owner on each. I typed out an alphabetical list of the books and passed it out a few times at Lodge, first with my books on it, then later with a few owned by other brothers. Not many ever told me what books they might have.
If you wanted a book on the list to research or just read, you could call me and I could direct you to the brother who owned the book, or if the owner wanted to remain private, I'd be willing to arrange to get the book and pass it to you.
I never got a call, not one.
Just wanted to pass the idea along, in case another brother could use it.
S&F
They work great on my Kindle or computer.