For many people, the mention of Freemasonry conjures images of closed-door meetings, passwords and secret handshakes.
But, according to a book by two former Old Dominion faculty, Masons are, in some respects, no different than members of campus Greek fraternities and sororities. They conduct meetings in well-marked buildings and their members make no secret of their allegiance.
Freemasonry, or simply, Masonry, essentially is a fraternal order whose basic tenets are brotherly love, philanthropy and truth. The order has codes of ethics that govern behavior and means to deal with violations. What shroud of secrecy Masons do maintain is only to preserve the meaningfulness of rituals for their members.
If Masons are a secret society, they're one of the worst-kept, said Richard A. Rutyna, who, with Peter C. Stewart, wrote "The History of Freemasonry in Virginia" (1998, University Press of America). The first such comprehensive book written on the subject, it also is the first general work on the topic to be published in more than 60 years, according to the authors.
The pair, both associate professors emeritus of history, found a wealth of information during their 13 years of research. They started it in 1986 when their dentist, a former grand master of Virginia Masons, asked them to write a comprehensive history of the group.
Previous attempts at writing such a book had been done by Masonic members. But this time, the Masons wanted an independent account of their history and an emphasis on the order's historical figures.
"They had not had a lot of historical analysis and that's what they wanted," Rutyna said, "particularly in social, political and cultural relation to local, state and national affairs." The authors' scholarly analysis of the role of Freemasonry in Virginia actually begins with its European origins centuries ago. The term "Freemason" either arose from free men in the Middle Ages who belonged to a craft guild, or masons working with freestone, Rutyna said. Virginia Freemasons can trace their roots to Great Britain, but the path of British Freemasonry is somewhat harder to follow.
The formal Masonic order got its start in the 18th century with the formation of the Grand Lodge of England, though Scottish historians say the underpinnings of the order can be found about 100 years before that.
Early Freemasons were Englishmen and Scots who harkened back to ancient orders of actual masons, or stoneworkers, who were called "operatives." Around the time of the Enlightenment, masonic operatives began to enlarge their membership to include scholars, gentlemen, writers, scientists and astronomers, who were called "speculatives." The groups assimilated and became known as Freemasons.
In 1778, Virginians founded the first independent grand lodge in America. With members including Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Paul Revere, John Paul Jones, Lafayette and Benedict Arnold, it's no coincidence that the lodge became intertwined with Virginia, national and world history, Rutyna said.
The rolls of current and former Masons are impressive. Fourteen presidents and 18 vice presidents were Masons, as were a majority of the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. Other legendary figures in the Masonic order include George Washington, Winston Churchill, Douglas MacArthur, Davy Crockett, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Nat King Cole, John Wayne, Clark Gable, Will Rogers, Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Ty Cobb, Arnold Palmer, John Glenn, and Lewis and Clark.
Many famous buildings, including the U.S. Capitol, Smithsonian Institution and the Washington Monument, were built by Masons.
In plowing through the records of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, Rutyna and Stewart discovered just as many myths - which they debunk in their book - as they did new information. They also found that ignorance has done more to color people's perceptions about the order than the traditions themselves.
For example, Masonic lodges have strict codes of ethics that govern lodge events and the conduct of their members. Those accused of crimes outside the lodge also must face trial in Masonic courts for "unMasonic conduct," Rutyna said.
Rutyna and Stewart also found:
The authors largely steered clear of publicizing the group's rituals, symbols and communication methods.
"We don't concern ourselves with arcane rituals and such," Rutyna said. "We weren't interested in uncovering their secrets. A little myth and legend is good for us. The Masons are good at it. There's nothing nefarious about it."
Though the heyday of the Virginia lodges was 30 to 40 years ago, Rutyna sees a promising future for the commonwealth's Freemasons, whose membership currently numbers about 50,000.
Virginia Freemasons maintain the Masonic Home of Virginia in Richmond to care for retired Masons and needy children, conduct blood drives, raise money for scholarships and contribute to disaster relief efforts, Rutyna said.
"They remain an active and viable fraternity that does an awful lot of valuable charitable work," he said.
