Welcome to The Tyler Place podcast the official podcast of the Scottish right of Freemasonry Southern jurisdiction mother Supreme Council of the world I am your host Matt Bowers 32nd degree Scottish Wright Mason coming to you from the house of the temple in Washington DC and this interview is a little bit of an
Extension from an article and an interview I did with brother Dr John KY day he is a professor of history at the University of Arkansas at monachello he penned an article in the March April 2023 edition of the Scottish right journal on the time that he took to
Conduct research here at the house of the temple for the quator coronna conference and the subject matter was the Reformation of Freemasonry in the former states of the Confederacy but particularly in Arkansas in the aftermath of the American Civil War I will include a link to that article
Reading as well as the interview in the notes for this interview needless to say it is quite the honor and privilege to have the opportunity to conduct that sort of research and then present it to a group such as the quator corona so without taking any more of your time oh
By the way I failed to remind you all that the Tyler’s place podcast was ranked in the top 20 of feedspot.com top Masonic podcasts okay just had to get that in there so it is my honor and privilege to have the opportunity to interview brother John KY day and to
Share it with you all so have a listen enjoy super happy you were able to uh have some time to share your your experience with me at the quator corna and I’m asking this this first question really for anyone not just for Masons how do you go about getting research or
An article accepted by them for presentation it seems like a really privileged opportunity to be a part of that process well I think so I I am very privileged and honor to to be a member of quad quina corresponded Circle just to review uh qua qua coronna
Uh lodge number 2076 is a member of the United Grand Lodge of England and it is the oldest and most prestigious Lodge of research in the world or so it says and they were a lodge that started back in the late 19th century to uh use some of
The theories of history and methods of of Mo of the modern historical discipline they were the first one to really apply that to free freem maer and take a more uh you know we have this romantic view of history and so forth and uh and Ro um romantic view of
Legendary uh view of uh the origins of premer and so forth but they were the first ones to kind of professionalize and use that um and it’s a very procedes law it’s limited just to few members is By Invitation Only uh I’m very honored to be a member of the
Correspondence the quad Cordina correspondence Circle which is open to uh anyone uh and I think any Mason and as well as non-masons alike and so um we receed their U uh annual communication we’re able to attend their conferences uh able to um re see some of
Their other benefits uh uh so while I’m not a member of the lodge I’m very very uh very honored and uh blessed to be a part of the the correspondence so and be able to participate uh this Lodge um I was I attended the U was going to attend
The meeting in 2020 which was uh called Freemasonry on the frontier and it was a um dedicated to uh Freemasonry in the new world and particularly uh on the frontier in the 18th and 19th century and it was in going to be in Boston but uh it was
Cancelled because of the pandemic uh but uh was uh I went ahead and submitted an essay and it was accepted anyway uh for publication so that came out 2021 which is a really great volume by the way if you want to there’s some really great
Authors in there and um uh so this next meeting uh was um uh held in honor of the 1723 constitutions which is really one of the founding constitutions of modern Freemasonry and so forth and um particularly um the way uh it has been trade is one of the founding documents
Of the Enlightenment uh and more a more rational uh view of the world and so I submitted a paper on that pertaining my research and my research was on one of the latter aspects of that particularly regarding the Civil War and reconstruction uh but it accepted and I
Was allowed to go to King’s College excuse me Queens College at the Cambridge and give a presentation so yes I was very honored to do that uh I’m very glad to do so but but I would strongly encourage every everyone to uh um if you are interested in Masonic
Research to join uh qccc or uh join our own I think which is really great uh Scottish Wright research um right Society uh and the the wonderful uh book uh annual publication of heredom that we get we have some we’re attracting some of the leading Masonic scholars in the
World uh who are submitting to uh to her him and our editor Adam Kindle just does a crackerjack job uh the volumes look really nice the articles are very well edited they’re thoroughly uh reviewed uh really tiptop really Tip Top stuff that’s going there and and you also also
As a member of Scottish Wright research Society you get um a copy of the plum line which is our annual newsletter which has some great articles in there as well so uh I I I really enjoy as a professional historian and who’s also uh really active in Freemasonry it it gives
Me an opportunity to to study my you know one of my uh uh most important parts of my life and kind of I I used to think that Mark Twain said make your vacation your vocation or vocation your vacation vice versa I now found out that
I don’t think he he said that but it’s still a good it’s still a good saying and so I I like to use that as well it’s allowed me to do some traveling and uh to uh pursue research in Masonic libraries and i’ really a labor of love
So I’m very honored to be able to do that very much and uh and uh again not just professional histor I I would encourage Masons I I think this is we’re always talking about rebuilding the fraternity and our grand Commander James Cole’s talked about a Renaissance coming
In Freemasonry which I I I whole hard to agree with I think this new generation’s going to find a lot of uh a good and Freemasonry and I think we’re going to have this Renaissance that Commander Cole’s talking about and one of that is is looking into our very rich history
And so I would encourage um all of my Masonic Brethren if you’re interested in in history and if you’re interested in Masonic history uh start with a u you know start with the history of your local Lodge uh and look at you know go go look at minutes
From the from yester year and uh talk about you know Freemasonry in your Lodge from the depression or Freemasonry and Lodge during the Civil War some we have a lot of minutes you know not and I think probably on the East Coast much better than we do but y’ I’m sure that
Y’all got minutes going back to prior to Civil War and some of your old lodges and your grand lodge and and some of um work on not just on on Research in in that that sense but also uh look at preserving a lot of your old photos that
Are you know lying in in heaps uh and uh you know put those in in nice frames and glass and get those on the wall and and find out who those men were who came before us because if we’re going to if we’re going to pass on this great
Tradition that we’ve inherited and pass it on to the next Generation let’s uh let’s work to do that I think that will also help help us to attract new new members in in the next generation of of Freemasons I really do yeah I in my blue
Lodge you know I’ve got one brother that he’ll have his first article published that he wrote in the uh January February Scottish right journal and great he sent me something one day and he’s like what do you think of this do you think I could get this in the magazine and I’m
Reading this and you you take for granted just because of the general conversations you have with people that that maybe they could have something something else Brewing up there and I read this article and I’m like this is amazing and I was like I want to double
Check this and I sent this sent it to you know a coworker and I was like what do you think of this article and you think we could get this submitted and not five minutes later he’s back to me he’s like absolutely he’s like I don’t
Even need to edit it that’s I think he was happiest about that right yeah again Scottish right research Society um I we just received uh art de Hoya’s um edition of uh Albert Pike the porch in the Middle Chamber which I’m really looking forward to reading it’s it’s
Right there on my desk and it’s on that stack but it’s it’s next up and yeah we get really good scholarship uh through the Scottish right research society and uh just like quady uh correspondent Circle so I would encourage all our Brethren to to get involved in those
Research organizations a lot of States a lot of jurisdictions have uh individual Lodges of research like uh my Missour Missouri Lodge of research is really great if your state doesn’t have one if your region doesn’t have one getting a round table not just developing research but at least a a masonic Round Table
Where y’all can find a common subject to to discuss and and research for programs of Education uh I would encourage everyone to get involved in that yeah absolutely and to backtrack a little bit from the from the first question you know you said that the presentation is
Or the from the presentation end of things it’s not just Masons it can be anybody presenting something as long as it’s been accepted is that presentation though open to the public yes yes it was not a tile at all it was a formal history conference uh now the majority
Of the the uh of course the majority of the scholars in the audience there were Masons but there was a get there was a professional academics of course um um uh some really famous Masonic Scholars uh were there uh so uh it was uh it was it was
Really it it was really nice we had Scholars from Turkey from all over the United States from Scotland from England from France from Sweden uh really uh quto EO really from across the globe professional academics as well as independent Scholars and I got some really good
Feedback on my paper I had a a brother scholar from Lebanon who gave me some good insights that I would never that kind of leads that kind of leads me up to the to the next question that I had for you you know what kind of followup
Obviously this is more than just I would assume more than just one day of hearing people present their research on something correct correct yes yes it was a it was a three-day event uh it was really nice it was at uh Queens College in Cambridge Cambridge is just fantastic
It’s just such a beautiful uh college town University right Queens College is um uh established in 1478 which wow you know coming from coming from the uh Southern United States that’s 15 years before Columbus you know arrived so really mindblowing for for for someone like me
Uh and just getting a chance to tour uh Cambridge uh univ the university community and all the great colleges there and a lot of history there was really fantastic the the night we arrived we arrived a day early and uh the um Cambridge Shire was having a uh
The end of a five-year festival and so there was a uh Steward’s Lodge who was hosting an event and it was closed door event but to see the see one of their great Steward lodges out full regalia and in their Tuxedos and talking with them about uh English Freemasonry that
Was quite educational in its own right some really nice nice guys nice fraternity Brothers yeah very much so how is there a limited amount of follow-up post your presentation is it formal is there a group of people that are asking you questions about it you know I I would I wouldn’t assume that
It’s like here’s my work and and that’s that well I was uh at the end of the day but it was formal academic conference so we had different panels on different themes and since uh my uh paper was uh regarding the Civil War and reconstruction it was the last period of
Time most of the conference focused on the 18th century on hanavan England on the 1723 constitutions themselves uh how the 1723 constitutions really proliferated throughout the Atlantic world uh as an impetus and driver for the enlightenment course probably the most famous aspect for Americans is uh uh Benjamin Franklin’s first book that
He published was the 1723 constitutions uh in book for that was the first book that that that brother Franklin uh published and so he felt it necessary to get those out there and so we talk about the American light you know Franklin being the head of the American Enlightenment but getting that
Out there um kind of the uh the intellectual Maloo that was hanavan England with Sir Isaac Newton and Des G who was Newton’s assistant and uh learned quite a bit a lot about that it was really great uh my panel included um brother Oscar Elaine from the Grand
Lodge of New York he’s he’s one of the really one of the great Masonic Riders working today so it’s a privilege to to work with him and he was he was talking about revolutionary uh revolutionary Freemasonry a little bit before mine but getting a chance to to uh rub elbows
Basically yeah to rub elbows with some of the great Scholars is is uh was really great just uh Margaret Jacobson of course one of the found founders of a formal study of Freemasonry in in the modern days of course her famous book living in the alignment she was there so
It was a it was a great great opportunity yeah I I got a little bit of taste of of research in history this was my first uh banial session in DC that obviously I was working at but I I got to attend some of the things and and one
Of them was the presentation from illustrious brother Brent Morris and and art de HOAs sitting there and I now granted I was there with the microphone to for people to ask questions and stuff like that but some of the questions and certainly some of the answers I I’m
Standing there and just I’m jaw dropped you know because it’s like I have no idea what any of this is and I I I really need to crack the books as as they would say to you know to get into that yeah Brothers Morris and de HOAs
Are both members of quad corn AR and I think brother Morris is a past Master you know they’re of course uh two of the Great Sonic Scholars of of their generation so uh it’s nice to have them in the Scottish right and again I would encourage all of our brothers if you get
A chance toly a Scottish R Brethren but but everyone visit the The House of the temple and visit our great library that they have remember that’s our library and it’s the oldest p uh the oldest library in Washington DC is just uh a treasure Trove of uh Masonic history and
So forth and uh great Masonic titles throughout the world but get get interested in studying in Masonry you and and our lectures are great and our lectures are important but but study our history because we’ve got a history that’s out there we just need to
Remember it and we need to we need to bring it to the to the Forefront as equally important as the library would be our librarian Lissa Watkins yes yes she probably knows more than than the average Mason out there yes I really enjoyed meeting Miss Watkins she’s she’s
Fantastic I had to I brought my boy there and she was so kind to let my boy uh hang out why I did research and stuff he was so helpful in all my research requests just to just to yeah uh we have a great staff there at the house of the
Temple so the when is this research presentation when and how is it available to the public is it video audio written I would check the uh I should have done this before I spoke with you but uh I would check the quad quady uh website they have more
Information and uh we on their quad corat YouTube channel they’re going to have the entire conference up on YouTube uh pretty soon um there also some some really good video videos on the on the water quady uh uh YouTube channel if you want to check them out there’s a really
Good uh video on the uh 1723 constitutions and I was actually going to show that um we saw that at the U at the conference but but that’s something I get from Mas Sonic education it’d be really easy to show that film to everybody’s loges during Masonic
Education you know dur at night it’d be something people really be interested in and it would kind of spark conversations I think about about U about the enlightenment about masonry’s relationship with the Enlightenment and so for what other parts of the process can you know that of of going over there
And being involved can you add you know as as just a separate thing uh I would I would uh encourage people um again this is uh we’re talkinging about bucket list but uh getting a chance to go to the United Grand Lodge of England was fantastic FC and go into their Library
Which uh is again is uh it’s the sea there’s so much to to to look at I was only able to spend a couple days in their archives but it’s critical to my research I’m hoping to go back as soon as I can I’m may be able to go back in
March um to can continue on this project I’m hoping to um produce uh at least one more article in this it’s kind of a Trilogy uh from the first two volumes it’s my uh next article will be be um somewhat of aoda to the uh the theme
That I’ve been working on and um so I’m hoping to go back but encourage if you get a chance uh United Grand LOD of England is quite impressive and to uh uh go there and if you if you get a chance it’s it’s it’s really uh worth it to U
For for every Mason uh to do to to go for sure I hope um we can uh again I would encourage everybody I think next up October we just had the um annual meeting of the Scottish right research Society the P last month uh in Indiana University which is another great
Archive they have the U I’m probably going to get the exact wording wrong but they have the institute on monitored for turism at at Indiana University and uh that’s where the uh annual meeting of the Scottish right research Society was next year I I’m not sure where it’s
Going to be next year but I know I’m know I’m pretty sure it’s going to be October I’d encourage everyone to uh if you can try to go there and here are some great Scholars doing doing uh some some work in in Freemasonry and so forth once again huge thanks to Brother
John Kyle daily for sharing his amazing opportunity to present his research at the quator coronad I am map hours 32nd degree Scottish Wright Mason the Tyler’s place podcast is brought to you by the Supreme Council of the Scottish right Southern jurisdiction mother Supreme Council of the world you can check us
Out on our homepage at Scottish right.org our Facebook page at facebook.com/ Scottish Freemasonry on YouTube at Scottish rasons if you have any comments or questions please leave one for us also make sure you like and share this podcast and we will catch you next time here at the Tyler’s Place
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