ContentsScope and Contents of the Collection
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Bethel Lodge, F. & A.M., Records, 1858-1938Finding AidFinding aid prepared by Kenneth Fones-Wolf and Linda Seidman.Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.2003
Administrative InformationAcquired from Donald Howe, 1960 Processed by Ken Fones-Wolf and Linda Seidman, February and September 1985. Preferred CitationCite as: Bethel Lodge, F. and A.M., Records (MS 12). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst. The collection is open for research. Return to the Table of Contents Historical NoteThe Bethel Lodge of Masons, organized in 1825, is the oldest recorded social or fraternal group in Enfield, Massachusetts. Although it was a flourishing organization, the Lodge suspended and surrendered its charter in late 1829 in response to anti-Masonic pressures of the period. The charter was restored in 1858 to petitioners Aaron Woods, Henry Fobes, Nathan Weeks, J.B. Woods, John Crosby, Ichabod Pope, and Daniel Ford. The Masonic Building, erected in 1926, was located in the central business district of Enfield. When the town was flooded for the Quabbin Reservoir, the Bethel Lodge folded, in 1939; most of its former members merged with Eden Lodge of Ware. Enfield was among the Western Massachusetts towns abolished in 1938 to allow the Swift River Valley to be flooded, thereby creating the Quabbin Reservoir to provide Boston with water. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the CollectionThe collection consists of material only from the period following the reinstatement of the charter. Records include a membership list (1861), financial records (1858-1898), by-laws (1882, 1937), burial service manual (1909), directories (1898, 1929-1938), insurance policies (1873-1898), meeting cards (1880-1926), and a one-hundredth anniversary booklet (1925). Return to the Table of Contents Search TermsReturn to the Table of Contents Annual Return of Membership 1861Bills and Accounts 1858-1898Burial Service manual 1909By-Laws 1882, 1937Directories 1898, 1929-1938Insurance Policies 1873-1898Meeting Cards 1880-1926One-Hundredth Anniversary booklet 1925 |
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