Freemasonry in Georgia: Ideals, Imagery, and Impact

Freemasonry was a new social organization when it emerged around 1720 in England with the founding of its authoritative body, Grand Lodge. Initially it was a secret society for men of varied backgrounds who met in lodges to improve themselves through enlightened practices of fraternity, liberty, tolerance, and benevolence. Rich in humanist learning and visual traditions, the fraternity evolved and spread across the globe thanks to British imperialism and new orders and rites that included women and people of color. Nowhere did it enjoy more respectability than in the United States. Never entirely secret, freemasonry contributed in visible ways to American culture and values, and its particular terminology entered everyday speech.  

This exhibition explores the ideals, imagery, and impact of freemasonry in Georgia. The physical materials displayed demonstrate the ambitions and tensions that existed within freemasonry. Organized in three sections that parallel the masonic symbol of the three columns of Strength, Wisdom, and Beauty, these materials are interpreted in their masonic significance as well as from a modern, critical perspective.  

Acknowledgements  
The research for this exhibition and its accompanying catalogue was generously supported by a multi-year grant from the Mellon Foundation secured through the University of Georgia’s Willson Center for Humanities and Arts. The Lamar Dodd School of Art also furnished funding for my research travel and presentations at conferences.  

I am profoundly grateful to the directors and staff of UGA’s Special Collections Libraries, as well as those of the Atlanta Masonic Library, the Chancellor Robert L. Livingston Masonic Library, the House of the Temple Library, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library. Thank you also to the Georgia Museum of Art and the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library for the loan of key materials that enhance the show.  

                                - Dr. Alisa Luxenberg, Exhibition Curator