Masonic Record Keeping

10/03/2022

One of the most vital tasks our Masonic Secretaries and Scribes-E perform, is sometimes one that gets overlooked or at least, not given the credit it deserves. That is, preserving our history though accurate Masonic Records.

What Records should a Secretary hold?

The actual Records required will vary by Masonic Order, Grand Lodge and Province, so it's always advisable to speak to your organising body for guidance. As an approximate, non-exhaustive guide, you may need to hold;

• Member Details (Name, Email, Date of Birth, Occupation, Address, Telephone Numbers etc.)
• Masonic Careers (Attendance, Rituals performed, Offices Held for each Member, Masonic Birthdays, Grand Lodge Certificates etc.)
• Contact Details (Charity Contacts, other Lodges, Widows, regular Visitors)
• Meeting Summons
• Meeting Minutes
• Details of potential Candidates
• Incoming and outgoing correspondence
• Details for upcoming Events (Dining requirements, table plans)
• GDPR or Data-Protection justifications for holding and processing any data
• By-Laws and Amendments
• Charter or dispensations
• Historic Records (photos, regalia)
• Financial Records (paid bills, bank statements) - although I'd offload these to your Treasurer!
• Lodge Asset Lists and Insurance Documents
• ... and a whole lot more!

Looking after Paper Records

Taking care of physical records (once you've backed them up digitally!) can be a minefield, but some basic tips would be;

• Store Documents in clean, dust-free cardboard boxes. Avoid plastic containers where possible as they don't breathe and can lead to mold.
• Keep Documents out of direct sunlight. A dark and dry environment will be best. Lofts or Garages aren't ideal due to the moisture in the air and potential for large temperature fluctuations.
• Carefully organise Records - label and box accurately - and make a list of their contents. Records are a lot less useful if you can never find them again!
• Avoid Pests - mice love Masonic Records, they're a delicacy! Again, Garages and Lofts are not ideal.
• Avoid handling Documents with your hands directly, especially old ones. The oils and acids in your skin can wreak havoc with their materials. You've probably got some cotton gloves to hand, use those!

Accurate Records

I have attended many meetings where the Brethren quietly chat or pass out Extra Strong Mints while the Minutes are dealt with; and understandably so, it's not hard to remember what happened last month.

But conversely, I have also been to a "Founder's Night" meeting where the Master expressed his sadness at the Festive Board for his Lodge's history being lost to the ages; celebrating a Lodge's heritage, but with only incomplete scraps of information. Wouldn't it be fantastic to celebrate a Centenary, and to be able to recount the goings on of our Brothers gone before?

Unfortunately it's all too easy for Masonic Records to be lost. If the Brother keeping them unexpectedly passes to the Grand Lodge above, or the location they're stored is suffers Fire or Flood. Or in our modern age, even a dodgy-laptop can mean the end of years and years of history!

Recent stories of arson attacks against Lodges in the USA remind us how fragile our records can be. Having recently become the custodian of some of my own Lodge's records (even though they only date back 50 or so years), I still feel the weight of the responsibility for keeping them safe.

Securing our History

Physical documents will always be vulnerable to physical threats, and although nothing could replace the feel and smell of our ancient volumes, I am sure those who've lost their histories would wish they had an electronic version. Losing the records but preserving the data would be a small consolation.

For this reason, The Working Tools is entirely cloud-based - not relying on any one server or even one data-centre. If our infrastructure ever suffered a Fire or Flood, the other locations would simply take over automatically.

Back-Ups

All computer users have back-up, back-up, back-up drilled into them. You've only got to lose your work once before you learn the lesson!

But for many users (and I must confess to the same), a manual backup doesn't happen nearly as often as it should.

If you're honest, when did you last take a full back-up of your Lodge's Records? (if you're unsure - go do it now!)

The Working Tools automatically makes full system backups every 5 minutes to ensure our member's data is safe.

Accessible History

Having the Masonic Records safe is one thing - the other is are they usable and useful?

Long-serving Secretaries will likely shudder at the prospect of putting together information on Provincial Promotions - trawling through years of Minute Books and Summons to compile lists of achievements and attendances.

The Working Tools' Planner system allows you to Search and Filter through your Masonic Records to quickly produce reports on specific Members or Events.

If you want to know exactly what Bro John Smith's Masonic Career looked like from 2007-2019, just open the report. No more pouring through records like a 16th century monk!

Image from https://museumfreemasonry.org.uk/