The Masonic Book Club, Vol. 7A

When the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasons of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States of America dedicated its new Museum-Library in Lexington, Massachusetts on April 20,1975, two hundred years and one day after Paul Revere's ride, it gave an outstanding Bicentennial gift to the people of the United States.

Nestling against a hillside on Massachusetts Avenue, approximately one mile east of the historic Minuteman Statue on Lexington Green, this six million dollar structure is dedicated to the patriotic ideals of the founders of our country. It was built for the express purpose of telling the story of the founding of our United States, of the lofty ideals of those patriots who conceived and brought our Country into being, and of her history down through the years that have followed. Many of those founders were Masons. Revere, Warren, Hancock, Washington, LaFayette- all carried out in their devotion to this country the high ideals that govern the Masonic Fraternity.

To show how the emblems and symbols used by the Craft were in turn used to decorate the material possessions of the day is the purpose of the exhibit of which this catalog is evidence. It is the first major and inclusive showing of such use by any major Museum anywhere. Thus the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum of Our National Heritage seeks to serve the ideals which animated its builders.

The Masonic Book Club is pleased to be a co-sponsor of the publication of this catalog with the Museum. This catalog is also a first in its field, and will itself become a collector's item as the years go by. So we are happy to place in the hands of our members this unusual Masonic item for your study and pleasure.