During the last quarter of 2014, the Library of the Supreme Council has been very busy. We have been host to numerous researchers, fielded dozens of research questions, received several book donations, welcomed seven new Adopt-A-Book patrons, and made significant headway in cataloging our collections.
ATTENTION ALL MASONIC LIBRARIES!
The Supreme Council Library is here to assist you. We are cataloging our collections on a daily basis, so why not take advantage of it?
Ill. William Lorenz, 33°, from the Covington Scottish Rite, Orient of Kentucky, explained their efforts to re-organize and modernize their Masonic library:
“Our committee is currently revamping our old library. We have transferred the books to a new room at the Temple and have cataloged many books with lots to go. We are cataloging using the Masonic Boyden System. Since all of the committee [members] are novices, we came up with different ideas on how and where the books should be cataloged. Quickly, we hit upon the idea of looking up the Supreme Council’s online library and utilizing your Boyden system numbers. This made life easy for the committee as we have only approximately 2,000 books.â€
The Covington Scottish Rite's idea of “copy cataloging†classification numbers was a stroke of genius. It makes no sense to repeat work that already has been done for you. Most of the catalog is very thorough with its detailed bibliographic entries. Please feel free to utilize our catalog as often as you like. You can check out the Supreme Council Online Catalog at: http://scottishrite.org/headquarters/library. If you have any questions or need help with your Masonic library, call Joan Kleinknecht, Librarian, at 202-777-3139.
Famous Quote Used by Many – but slightly different
Mr. Bill Hickey, 32°, KCCH, wrote me regarding one of the famous quotes my father (Past Sovereign Grand Commander C. Fred Kleinknecht, Jr.) frequently used. In fact, he had a paperweight with this quote sitting on his desk at the Supreme Council.
I have written in the Scottish Rite Journal before that 'there is no limit to what a person can accomplish so long as he doesn’t care who gets the credit.' That’s been proven true time and again in every area of life, including Freemasonry. We all know of many Masons who have accomplished great good for the Fraternity because they simply get things done and don’t care whether they get any credit for it at all. We would be lost without them.
Masonry works, and works well as long as we all work, as long as every Mason cares more about the task than the glory, more about the outcome then the credit, more about doing something than being someone.â€
(C. Fred Kleinknecht, Past Sovereign Grand Commander, Scottish Rite Journal, February 1999)
Mr. Hickey did some research and found that this quote is used quite often but changed slightly. I had stated in Amicus that this was Ronald Reagan’s quote, but Mr. Hickey found differently. Here are a few examples:
Charles Edward Montague - “There is no limit to what a man can so long as he does not care a straw who gets the credit for it.â€
Harry S. Truman - “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.â€
John Wooden - “It’s amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.â€
General George C. Marshall - “There is no limit to the good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.â€
*Thank you Mr. Hickey for the information and the research!
Book Donations
It is wonderful that we get so many book donations every quarter. Donations come from patrons from both the Southern and Northern Jurisdictions. Some of the donations help fill missing spots in our collections. For instance, Gerald Klein from Ohio recently called asking a question that could be found in The Rosicrucian Fama. It just happened that we had the volume he needed, but we did not have a lot of the other volumes. Two weeks after helping Mr. Klein, he sent the Supreme Council Library six volumes that we were missing, which we have added to The Rosicrucian Fama section of the library. Thank you so much Mr. Klein. This truly will help researchers in the future.
New Donations:
Grand Lodge of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Bulgaria, 2013.
Presented to the library the Grand Master, Nikolay Stantchev and Grand Secretary Nikolay Ivanov. This will be a great addition to our Masonic International Collection.
A Century of Perfection, Manila Bodies A. & A. S. R. 1910 - 2010.
Presented to our library for the Masonic International Collection, by Bro. Pravin Thakur Sharma, 32°, KCCH, Manila Bodies A.A.S.R. Philippines, and Bro. Michael Francis MacIntosh Perez, 32°, MRS, Luzon Bodies A.A.S.R. Philippines.
Rare Book Vault
The smallest Masonic Book in the collection at the House of the Temple is Maçonnerie Symbolique suivant le régime du Grand Orient de France (Symbolic Masonry according to the regulations of the Grand Orient of France) published in 1804. It is 2 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches with approximately 30 pages.
This rare edition, along with its slip case, is bound in burgundy contemporary kid, with a gold ornament on the front and back, and gilt edges. This very rare book may be one of the only copies in the country and is housed in our Special Collections vault. It was last appraised in 1980 and valued at $500.00.
Have a Masonic Question? Ask the Librarian!
Here are a few recent questions the library has received from Amicus Librarium readers:
Question: To whom does the Library submit grant proposals?
Answer: The National Endowment for the Humanities.
Question: Do you have publications in Spanish?
Answer: Yes. Anyone may access the titles in Spanish from our International Masonic Collection by visiting our Online Catalog at scottishrite.org/headquarters/library.
Question: Are you going to offer the Pike book again since it sold out so quickly?
Answer: Unfortunately, no. The copies sold earlier this year were the only copies that we had available to sell. We will keep our eyes open for another opportunity to offer something for sell in a future Amicus.
If you have a Masonic question for the Librarian, please call (202) 777-3139 or email at: jkleinknecht@scottishrite.org.
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