The Samuel Crocker Lawrence Library, on the second floor of Grand Lodge, is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 A.M. until 4:00 P.M., except on holidays when the Grand Lodge is closed.
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To contact the librarian, call 617.426.6040 x4221 or email mahern@massfreemasonry.org.
History
The Samuel Crocker Lawrence Library is the historical repository of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts. Its origins can be traced back to 1814, when the Grand Lodge purchased the personal Masonic library of R.W. Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris (1768-1842). R.W. Harris, the pre-eminent Masonic scholar of his age, authored the 1792 Grand Constitutions, and served as Grand Chaplain, Junior Grand Warden, and Deputy Grand Master throughout his life. The library began in order “to promote the knowledge and durable prosperity of our most excellent order.” The Anti-Masonic period of the 1820s-40s stunted progress in the library, but by the 1850s future Grand Master Winslow Lewis Jr. (1799-1875) led the initiative to revive the institution. He worked to establish a permanent Library Committee, and personally donated many rare items to the collection. By 1854, M.W. Lewis reported 255 volumes “catalogued, labeled, and placed in a suitable bookcase.”
Then in 1864, disaster struck when the Grand Lodge caught fire and destroyed the library in its entirety. The Grand Lodge persevered, buying replacement volumes and receiving donations from Brethren. In 1873, the Grand Lodge purchased a 1,200-volume collection from Bro. Leon Hyneman of Philadelphia and in 1880 R.W. William Sutton (1800-1882), Past Senior Grand Warden, donated 500 volumes. In 1895 Grand Lodge caught fire again, but though the building was damaged beyond repair, much of the library was saved.
Then in 1911, Past Grand Master Samuel Crocker Lawrence (1832-1911) bequeathed his several thousand volume collection to the Grand Lodge upon his passing. M.W. Lawrence was not only one of the most active and prominent Masons of his day, but he was also an avid book collector. When he died, his personal Masonic library was widely considered the most substantial and complete collection of any one individual in the world. His donation elevated the library to new heights, making it a world class collection and by 1917 Grand Master Leon M. Abbott (1867-1932) remarked “There is probably nowhere outside of England a finer Masonic collection”
Over the next 100 years the now renamed Samuel Crocker Lawrence Library has gone through its ups and downs (similar but not as extreme as the previous century). In recent decades the library relocated to the second floor of the Grand Lodge and its physical footprint was reduced. However, the library continues to maintain a truly impressive collection of books, manuscripts, photographs, objects and ephemera that tell the story of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and Freemasonry around the world. With the 300th Anniversary of the Grand Lodge just around the corner, the Samuel Crocker Lawrence Library will no doubt continue to play a vital role in the preservation, care, and education of Freemasonry for years to come.
