Freemasonry and the Press in the Twentieth Century. Proefschrift

Freemasonry and the Press in the Twentieth Century

A National Newspaper Study of England and Wales

Paul Calderwood

Website price:

£67.50 (Regular price: £75.00)

Imprint: Ashgate

Illustrations: Includes 12 b&w illustrations

Published: May 2013

Format: 234 x 156 mm

Extent: 378 pages

Binding: Hardback

Other editions: ebook PDF, ebook ePUB

ISBN: 978-1-4094-5433-5

ISBN Short: 9781409454335

BL Reference: 366.1'0941'0904

LoC Control No: 2012039067

By the end of the twentieth century, Freemasonry had acquired an unsavoury reputation as a secretive network of wealthy men looking out for each others’ interests. The popular view is of an organisation that, if not actually corrupt, is certainly viewed with deep mistrust by the press and wider society. Yet, as this book makes clear, this view contrasts sharply with the situation at the beginning of the century when the public’s perception of Freemasonry in Britain was much more benevolent, with numerous establishment figures (including monarchs, government ministers, archbishops and civic worthies) enthusiastically recommending Freemasonry as the key to model citizenship.

Focusing particularly on the role of the press, this book investigates the transformation of the image of Freemasonry in Britain from respectability to suspicion. It describes how the media projected a positive message of the organisation for almost forty years, based on a mass of news emanating from the organisation itself, before a change in public regard occurred during the later twentieth-century. This change in the public mood, the book argues, was due primarily to Masonic withdrawal from the public sphere and a disengagement with the press.

Through an examination of the subject of Freemasonry and the British press, a number of related social trends are addressed, including the decline of deference, the erosion of privacy, greater competition in the media, the emergence of more aggressive and investigative journalism, the consequences of media isolation and the rise of professional Public Relations. The book also illuminates the organisation’s collisions with nationalism, communism, and state welfare provision. As such, the study is illuminating not only for students of Freemasonry, but those with an interest in the wider social history of modern Britain.

Contents: Preface; Introduction; The source and treatment of news; Politics; Suspicion; Religion; Royal endorsement; Membership; Buildings; Benevolence; Overseas news; Conclusion; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author: Paul Calderwood graduated in History from the University of Leicester and subsequently spent his working life in journalism and public relations. More recently, his work has been featured in The Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, the leading academic journal in this field.

For his paper on Freemasonry and Architecture in Twentieth-century Britain, he was awarded the Norman B Spencer Prize by Quatuor Coronati Lodge, the premier lodge of Masonic research, in 2010, and, in the following year, he received the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Goldsmiths, University of London for his thesis on the history of Freemasonry and the Press in Twentieth-century Britain.

Reviews: 'All in all, an unexpected gem, which illuminates an area of Masonic research much overlooked up until this work was published.' Irishfreemasonry.com

'… to the serious Masonic scholar and those interested in the wider social history of modern Britain, it [Freemasonry and the Press in the Twentieth Century] is an absolute goldmine as a source of material.' The Square

Inhoudsopgave:

http://www.ashgate.com/pdf/SamplePages/Freemasonry-and-the-Press-in-the-Twentieth-Century-Cont.pdf

The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry Ric Bernan

The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry The Grand Architects – Political Change and the Scientific Enlightenment, 1714–1740 Ric Berman

Following the appointment of its first aristocratic Grand Masters in the 1720s and in the wake of its connections to the scientific Enlightenment, ‘Free and Accepted’ Masonry rapidly became part of Britain’s national profile and the largest and most influential of Britain’s extensive clubs and societies. The new organisation did not evolve naturally from the mediaeval guilds and religious orders that pre-dated it, but was reconfigured radically by a largely self-appointed inner core. It became a vehicle for the expression and transmission of their political and religious views, and for the scientific Enlightenment concepts that they championed, and hence naturally attracted an aspirational membership. … Through an examination of new and previously unexplored primary documentary evidence, the book aims to contribute to an understanding of contemporary English political and social culture and explore how Freemasonry became a mechanism that promoted the interests of the Hanoverian establishment, connecting a number of élite metropolitan and provincial figures. A range of networks centred on the aristocracy, parliament, the learned and professional societies, and the magistracy, are examined; and key individuals instrumental in spreading the Masonic message are evaluated. Special focus is given to the role of the ‘Craft’ in the development of the scientific Enlightenment. … Ric Berman concludes that Freemasonry should be recognised not only as the most prominent of the many eighteenth-century fraternal organisations, but also as a significant cultural vector and a component of the social, economic, scientific and political transformation then in progress. This analysis throws a new and original light on the formation and development of what rapidly became a national and international phenomenon.  INHOUD: Acknowledgements Preface Introduction One: English Freemasonry before the formation of Grand Lodge Two: John Theophilus Desaguliers: Homo Masonicus Three: Grand Lodge: The Inner Workings Four: The Professional Nexus Five: The Rise of the First Noble Grand Masters Six: ‘Through the paths of heavenly science’ Seven: Conclusion Appendices Abbreviations Electronic Reading and Research Selected Bibliography Index Publication Details Hardback ISBN: 978-1-84519-479-6 Paperback ISBN: 978-1-84519-506-9 Page Extent / Format: 320 pp. / 234 x 156 mm Release Date: December 2011 Illustrated: Yes Hardback Price: £55.00 / $79.50 Paperback Price: £25.00 / $39.95

"Où peut-on être mieux?" Muziek en muzikanten in de negentiende-eeuwse Brusselse vrijmetselarij

Doctoraal proefschrift

Promotie David Vergauwen

Op woensdag 21 mei 2014 promoveerde dhr. David Vergauwen tot doctor in de Geschiedenis aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Hij verdedigde een orgineel proefschrift met als titel "Où peut-on être mieux?" Muziek en muzikanten in de negentiende-eeuwse Brusselse vrijmetselarij. David Vergauwen studeerde geschiedenis, kunstgeschiedenis en musicologie aan de Universiteit Gent en is lid van de Interdisciplinaire Onderzoeksgroep Vrijmetselarij (FREE) aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Zijn doctoraal proefschrift focust op de rol van de vrijmetselaar als musicus in het Brussels cultuurleven van 1786 tot 1930. De abstract is te lezen op de website van de VUB. Promotor is prof.dr. Jeffrey Tyssens; De verdediging werd bekroond met het behalen van de graad van doctor, met de grootste onderscheiding, en met felicitaties van de jury.

Geplaatst door Stichting OVN

Abstract

Deze studie behandelt de betekenis van muziek binnen de Brusselse

vrijmetselarij uit de (lange) negentiende eeuw (1786-1930), met een bijzondere

aandacht voor de rol en de positie van de maçonnieke musicus. Ze wil een licht

werpen op de rol die de vrijmetselarij speelde in het Brusselse cultuurleven.

Zodoende bevindt deze studie zich op een grensgebied van twee disciplines:

geschiedenis en musicologie. Daarom schiepen we een theoretisch kader dat wij

“maçonnieke musicologie” noemden: het bestuderen van muziek in een sociaalhistorischperspectief, waarbij muziek en muzikanten als studieobject wordenafgewogen tegenover de sociale, politieke, religieuze, culturele, filosofische,economische en institutionele contexten.

Het lot van de musicus werd onderzocht dankzij een prosopografische

studie van 365 individuen die zowel als vrijmetselaar en als muzikant actief

waren in het negentiende-eeuwse Brussel. Tegen deze achtergrond

bestudeerden we vervolgens de praktische modus operandi en de alledaagsheid

van het muzikale leven binnen de werkplaats, met bijzondere aandacht voor

evoluties in de sociale positie van de muzikant. Er werd aandacht geschonken

aan de organisatie van maçonnieke liefdadigheidsconcerten en de filantropische,

diplomatieke, politieke en sociale doeleinden die zij dienden.

De maçonnieke muziek zelf werd onderzocht aan de hand van een

analyse van meer dan 150 maçonnieke chansons. Enkele maçonnieke

chansonniers werden belicht, alsook enkele maçonnieke muziekbundels. Er werd

aandacht geschonken aan een klein dozijn partituren die werden teruggevonden

en in een apart hoofdstuk werd ingegaan op de relatie tussen muziek en het

maçonnieke rouwritueel, gebruik makend van de methodes van de culturele

antropologie en de etnomusicologie.