The Craft Work: 

Library & Archives

Regular Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00am-4:00pm. (Effective 9/6/2022)

Free Admission & Parking

About

The Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives is one of the premiere repositories in the United States for the study of Freemasonry and fraternalism. Its other major collecting area is American history. The Library & Archives is open to the public and is located off the Museum’s main lobby.

Collections

The Library & Archives has one of the world’s most comprehensive collections on the subject of American Freemasonry. The collection comprises over 60,000 books, 1,600 serial titles and 2,000 cubic feet of archival materials related to Freemasonry, fraternalism, and American history. Read more

Research

We strive to provide both intellectual and physical access to our collections. Readers are encouraged to contact us with their research questions or visit our Reading Room. Read more

Circulating Collection

Masons who live within a two-hour drive of the museum may borrow books from the Wallace M. Gage Collection, a circulating collection that is part of the Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives. Read more

Anno Lucis - (A.L. or A:.L:.) In The Year of Light
Anno Lucis is Latin for In The Year of Light.
Historical Significance: The Year of Light signifies the date of the creation of the world (approximately 4000 years before the Common Era), as we read in the third verse from the Book of Genesis in the King James version of the Bible as well as in the Torah.
1:1 - In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
1:2 - And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
1:3 - And God said, Let there be light: and there
was light.
1:4 - And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Ancient Craft Freemasons in the York and French Rites, residing in Scotland, England, Ireland, France, Germany, and in America, use the words, Anno Lucis. 
Math:  Anno Lucis is found by adding 4000 years (from the creation of the world to the present date) (4000 B.C.E. + 2021 C.E. = 6021 A.L. (Anno Lucis)
Relevance:  The Ancient Craft Mason Masonic calendar celebrates the creation of the world, approximately 4000 years before the Common Era, or 6021 years ago. (as of the year, 2021)  
The word, "approximately" must be used, here, because, historically, there were many different calendars in use over the last 6000+ years. 
This makes precise dates very difficult to ascertain.   (Some historians believe it to be 4004 years before the Common Era.) 

The Commission on Information for Recognition was organized in 1951 as a facility to gather, collate, and from time to time, revise information on Grand Lodges in other lands, as a service to the Grand Lodges of this Conference.

The Commission neither advises nor recommends that recognition be given to any Grand Lodges, but merely indicates whether or not it considers that a Grand Lodge in question satisfies the conditions of regularity.

Until 2003, the Commission had consisted of six members selected from a wide geographical distribution. One new member, usually a Deputy Grand Master, was selected each year and served for six years. In 2003, the Conference of Grand master's expanded the Commission to seven members, with each to serve a term of seven years. This will eventually assure that each of the seven Regional Masonic Conferences will be represented on the Commission.

After each Annual Meeting of the Conference of Grand Masters, the report, given to and adopted by the Conference, is printed and copies mailed to the Grand Secretaries and to the Chairmen of the Committees on Fraternal Relations of the Grand Lodges of the Conference. Copies are mailed to many interested Grand Lodges who are not members of the Conference. This report is based upon the most recent information available, and, in some cases, after a presentation by representatives of the Grand Lodges mentioned in the report.

In the early days of the Grand Lodge system and following Ramsay’s Oration, European Freemasonry was plagued by degree fabricators and peddlers. Generally considered clandestine by most Grand Lodges, specifically the UGLE and American Grand Lodges, the Rites of Memphis & Mizraim are seen as clandestine or irregular as it claims jurisdiction over Ancient Craft Masonry and was seen by many as spurious at best, and nothing more than a money-making scheme to dupe title seekers out of money. The Rites of Memphis & Misraïm are no longer worked by legitimate American Freemasons but are now under the jurisdiction of the Grand College of Rites. These rites are worked in a few countries like Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, and the Dominican Republic. Prior to 1881, these rites were separated, and the Rite of Mizraim is older, but by the efforts of the renowned Italian patriot, Giuseppe Garibaldi, the two were merged together.