The R. G. Camp­bell Masonic Library.

In con­junc­tion with the Sault Ste. Marie Masonic Hall Cor­po­ra­tion and the finan­cial sup­port of all Lodges of this Dis­trict, we are pleased to have a dis­trict library in Algoma East Dis­trict. It is located in the Masonic Tem­ple in Sault Ste. Marie. Please try to visit the library and use the facilities.

From time to time, we will pro­vide short sum­maries of some of the books avail­able on loan from the library. We hope that your inter­est and your desire to make daily advance­ment in Masonic Knowl­edge will encour­age you to use the library loan ser­vice which is avail­able free of charge to any mem­ber of Algoma East District.

If you wish to have a closer look at what infor­ma­tion is avail­able other than through the book loan ser­vice, you can do so by vis­it­ing the Library and look­ing up the inven­tory of mate­ri­als on the com­puter there sim­ply by access­ing the title “Use”. Then you will have access to all of the mate­ri­als in the library from Pro­ceed­ings to videos.

Even­tu­ally we hope to have this ser­vice avail­able to you from your own loca­tion through the library sec­tion of the Dis­trict web site. Check the web site often as the books we high­light will change at least every few months and any new books we receive will appear as soon as we can get them on the site.

If you have ques­tions or areas you would like us to fol­low — up on , please con­tact the chair­man of the Library Com­mit­tee: R. W. Bro. Nel­son Ingram (to con­tact by e-mail click on name) or by phone at (705) 848‑0214, or by reg­u­lar mail at: 104–3 Welling­ton Cres­cent, Elliot Lake, Ontario P5A 2X1 and he will try to answer your requests as soon as pos­si­ble. Other mem­bers of the Library Com­mit­tee are: W. Bro. Robert Forster, Bro. Harry Lewis, and R. W. Bro. Arthur Burlein.

The books we wish to high­light are:

Beyond The Pillars.

(Grand Lodge of Ontario) (1973)

This is a very good ” first read” book for the begin­ning Mason. It deals pri­mar­ily with the his­tory of Masonry and of the his­tory of the Grand Lodge of Ontario.

It traces the ori­gins of Masonry and sum­ma­rizes the lessons of the ritual

in the three degrees, reviews the signs, and explains the grips and words.

It is a good overview of the Craft.

The Builders.

( IF. New­ton) (1914)

This book is a very deep philo­soph­i­cal reflec­tion on the secrets and mys­ter­ies of Masonry…its signs, sym­bols, and mes­sage ( or mean­ing). It traces the ori­gin and devel­op­ment of such things as the work­ing tools, the secret doc­trines, and the foun­da­tion of the Craft. It is his­tor­i­cal in nature and deals with the chrono­log­i­cal data dur­ing the development.

An inter­est­ing book to read when search­ing for back­ground devel­op­ment of the craft and for under­stand­ing of some of the fundamentals.

British Masonic Miscellany

(G. M. Mar­tin) (No date)

This is an almost com­plete set of small pocket sized books that num­ber 20 vol­umes (we have 19 of them). They dis­cuss many areas of Masonry and do not seem to do so in any orga­nized way. Top­ics are varied.

Exam­ple: Vol­ume 1: Masonic Cloth­ing, Masonic Sym­bol­ism, and var­i­ous points of the ritual.

Vol­ume 12: The Third Degree, Great Sym­bols of Masonry, The unique sym­bol­ism of each degree.

They are good source of Masonic knowl­edge for any­one look­ing for a par­tic­u­lar topic or area and not want­ing to read great vol­umes on it.

Mackey’s Sym­bol­ism of Freema­sonry

(A. G. Mackey) ( 1925)

This is an Amer­i­can pub­li­ca­tion. It is an in-depth study of some of the Masonic sym­bols and deals with both tra­di­tion and his­tor­i­cal beliefs. Some of the things it deals with are:

The Form of the Lodge.

The point within a circle.

The rite of investiture.

The sprig of aca­cia (and its significance).

It is a very com­plete and infor­ma­tive Book.