March 2017 – Page 3 – Drypigment.net

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 25.

The Final Countdown

My Fort Scott crew loaded all of the drops onto the truck. Each layer of tubes was separated with plastic. My idea was to allow each tube to effortlessly slip into and out if the truck. Each tube weighed about one hundred pounds and need four set of hands to safely carry. Lovingly packed onto the truck, I continued to worry about the unloading process.

Wooden battens loaded before props and set pieces in second truck

In addition to securing a storage unit, the general director of the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center was to secure the labor to unload the truck. We were targeting a Sunday morning departure, with us arriving in Bloomington by the evening. Early that Monday morning, we would unload the trucks at the storage facility. My concern was that there would not be enough labor at the site.

On November 14, I emailed the general director:

“We will need four people to unload the 80 rolls and flats at the

Bloomington storage facility. It will just be the BellaTex driver and myself who arrive at the storage facility. I will not be able to help carry as I will be directing where each tube goes. Rolls weigh about 80-100lbs. Each. We are targeting an arrival on Sunday, but I will be able to provide 24-48 hrs. notice as we get closer. We need individuals that can lift, ideally men.”

I repeatedly requested the general director to contract four men to unload the 25’ tubes from the truck, each weighing approximately 100 pounds. I also explained that we were not only unloading the tubes, but also numerous set pieces, properties, and 13,000 linear feet of wooden battens that would arrive in a second truck.

On Nov 18, 2015, at 1:05 PM I received the following email from the general director:“Wendy, I have things lined up to unload Monday morning. I will be present to supervise the temporary workers. Given the four hour minimum we are doubtful of the need for four workers. I am planning to have two workers on hand.”

This was just a bit too much to handle on top of everything else. Why would he insist on only two laborers for four hours when I specified four laborers for eight hours? Maybe he didn’t understand the weight or the length of the tubes? It made no sense that he would ignore my requests.

I responded to him on the same day at 1:37 PM:

“The tubes are too heavy for two people to carry and load into the rack. There must be a minimum of four people. I cannot be one of the people carrying and placing the tubesPlease be aware that it might take a full day to unload the tubes, battens and other scenery pieces. I will need to supervise the placement of the tubes into the rack as there is a specific order.”

When we arrived that Monday morning there were no individuals from Ready Labor. The general director of the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center immediately suggested that we start unloading the tubes from the truck regardless. He was sure that the individuals from Ready Labor would appear on site soon. The only people on site beside myself were the general director, the owner of BellaTex, LLC (Ty Prewitt) and the executive vice president of operations at BellaTex, LLC (Amanda Zimmerman).

All of us understood the game that was being played and I responded, “No, we’ll wait just for them to show up. Maybe you should call the agency to see why they are late.”

After a few hours, one Ready Labor worker showed up, but he couldn’t stay for the entire day. So we started to unload the props from the first truck. A little while later a second Ready Labor worker appeared and then a third. This was unbelievable and it became obvious that no one had ever been called prior to that morning.

Most of the morning had been wasted and we were now behind schedule. I had worked 240 hours in the past three weeks and had two days off (150 hours more than I was paid during this time period as a staff). I just want to go home and sleep, but that wouldn’t happen due to scheduled meetings for the remainder of the week.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 24.

It’s All in the Details

Our Scottish Rite representative took me out to dinner during the last week of work. It was my time to share some of our discoveries and ask questions before our final departure. I had two options: Chicken Annie’s and Chicken Mary’s. Both were great regional restaurants. We went to chicken Annie’s and had the famous fried chicken dinner. It was a nice break from our standard fair at Sharky’s and the Nu Grill where we had tried every single item on the menus.

I tentatively brought up our miraculous finds from Moses’ temporary studio in 1924. I felt odd about mentioning these treasures. Everything – every historic artifact – was leaving their town and it would all rapidly disappear.

My heart sank as I thought of these undiscovered remnants uncovered well over a year AFTER the June 2014 auction. What else had been up there? I explained our finds to he and his wife at dinner. “Well,” he slowly drawled, “there was an awful lot of stuff up there. You wouldn’t believe the amount of type of things! There were even all of the lights from the old theatre. There was also some sort of odd structure – or a type of big frame with weights!”

“Ah,” I responded as my heart sank. “That would have been the remainder of Thomas Moses’ paint frame …much of it was mostly incorporated into the top wooden battens. I guess that there was some still left.”

A general sense of devastation overcame me as I realized that they had no idea or understanding of what had been thrown out. If only someone, thought to ask, but this happens in so many places. Masonic temples go up for sale and no one has the time a new home for the artifacts. On those final days, they get a dumpster and fill it.

I remembered a similar moment at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center earlier that year with the CEO of Minnesota Masonic Charities. He was also the CEO of the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Society and Museum. We were discussing the need to catalogue and clean out of the museum prior to the move into the new facility. He wanted to hear that most of the contents were “unworthy” of remaining in their collection. He explained that Dave had just kept a lot of junk.

I had that we should contact the various fraternal organizations to see if they would like artifacts that we wanted to get rid of during this cleaning. “Just get a dumpster – less controversy” had been my directive. I understood his point of view, but couldn’t follow this unethical demand – not as a historian. I flat out refused to place any museum artifacts into a dumpster without seeking out another home for them first. Needless to say, someone else was appointed to go through the artifacts and determine each item’s fate.

It was this same type of thing had happened high above the stage at Fort Scott just prior to the auction. For some, it took too much time to identify the various contents stored in this space and disperse it to appropriate recipients. It was just easier to just throw it all out.

I came back to the conversation about Moses’ paint studio. The original 1904 lighting instruments had found their way to the dumpster, boxes of antique lamps, and a sundry of other “unknown” items. I just smiled politely across the table at my dinner companions understanding that this was just the tip of the iceberg. This was just one of many times when someone would be responsible for disposing the history that was shared between the fraternity and the theatre.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 23.

Drawn to History

One of the last studio discoveries was a number of jumbo charcoal sticks, some used, and some new. An entire box or bag must have dropped into this crack and I saved and every recovered shard. These jumbo sticks were used to draw out the composition for every drop.

In 1929, Moses wrote, “Started my painting on the McAlester job by drawing in the Barins Anti-Chamber…”

Charcoal markings were also found on the backsides of drops too. In scenic studios, they marked the size of drops and their eventual location as they were transferred from the sewing room to the paint studio. Charcoal also listed the subject of specific stock scenes.

I envisioned the beautiful display that could display these artifacts and provide artistic provenance for the collection at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. This was going to be billed as the Thomas Gibbs Moses collection, a Scottish Rite Mason and nationally recognized scenic artist.

We had the primer that formed the basis of the painting, the charcoal sticks that were used to draw the composition, and a detail brush that was used to apply the dry pigment. Furthermore there was the artist’s sweater and Scottish Rite paint cap AND his writings from the diary. I envisioned a lovely display for all to see, one that would draw international audiences. The careful handling of both the scenery and artifacts would be stunning. Restored drops were almost indistinguishable from new ones. It would be like walking into a Scottish Rite theatre during 1924 – but with all of the modern conveniences. Could it get any better than this?

I anticipated the looks of the visitors on the opening day of the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. We had just enough time to transport the collection back to Minnesota, restore a few scenes, and hang them for the June 24, 2016 opening! It was going to happen and this was the perfect collection for a heritage center.

I looked to the long-term goal. The restoration of this collection could be a wonderful training ground for students across the state of Minnesota. This was an opportunity to share knowledge about both dry pigment painting and restoration techniques. This might revitalize a trade that was on the verge of extinction.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 22.

Keep it under your hat

Austin immediately found another dust-encrusted piece of fabric after the paint sweater. But this one was a paint cap. It had the same colored dry pigment specks as the sweater and I imagined the paint flying through the air as Moses painted the drop. It suggested the speed at which Moses painted, one of his greatest strengths.

The speed at which scenery was painted reduced the overall labor costs, thus returned the greatest profits to the shareholders. In 1881, Moses had recorded, “The others were able to draw more, because they were better in the artistic end, but I had it over them when it came to speed.” And it was this speed that mattered in both a studio and as a freelance artist.

Upon closer inspection of the little black cap, I noticed the Masonic insignia. This wasn’t simply any painter’s cap, it had a Scottish Rite eagle on it! It was just too much to comprehend and I floated back to the hotel after work. When you receive news that is so absolutely fantastic, there is a moment where you just want to keep it to yourself. I didn’t immediately call my husband, tell my mother, or notify any colleague. For just a day, I savored the discovery with the crew.

(Moses wearing New York)

(Had while painting drop curtain)

(Moses painting landscape in center of studio photo)

(Studio photo)

This was a turning point in my career and I could feel that this was simply the beginning. These artifacts, their discovery, and their further linking Freemasonry with scenic art would continue to expand.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 21.

Rags to Riches

We slowly progressed across the studio, pulling a variety of theatrical artifacts from the gap such as lining sticks, a pounce wheel handle, 1924 news papers, teaspoons, Masonic buttons, miniature wooden battens to support scenic designs, and more. By this time I had a little mound of treasured items near the edge.

Then a grey knitted rag appeared, so filthy that the dirt just fell from it. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was an old paint sweater as I noticed the paint spots. Little dabs of white paint were all over the sweater. I was trying to determine whether this could possible an article of clothing that belonged to a scenic artist. If the spots were just white it could have belonged to any painter working throughout the building during its construction. The various spaces in the building would have received a coat of white primer.

In the dim light, I intently peer at the little areas of color. Was this the patter in the fabric? Soon, I determined that it was in fact dry pigment and a wide range of colors! Luckily, I was extremely familiar with the appearance of dry pigment paint on my clothes. When it sets on top the fabric, it looks like little dabs of pastels (colored chalk), not simply blobs of paint.

I knew that this sweater belonged to a scenic artist, and the likely hood that it was Moses’ was very great. The nearby artifacts would support this theory, as well as his diary entries from his time spent painting in Fort Scott, but there would be one aspect about the sweater that would support my theory and it wouldn’t happen util after my return to Minesota.

Later, I would stage the sweater for a series of photograph to document detail of the sweater with measurements in my Bloomington office. During this photo shoot I looked at the pocket button. When I looked at the left pocket, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and that little voice of intuition say, “Check the pockets.” I stuck my fingers in the pocket and felt something. Tears came to my eyes as I pulled out pink and white flower petals.

There is something about finding an article of clothing belonging to an artist that is awe-inspiring, especially when you have studied this particular artist for a few decades. It is something else entirely when you discover such a personal aspect. The petals in his pocket meant something to him, enough for him to pick them up and tuck them in his pocket.

Moses was a romantic and it is very apparent in the writing of his handwritten diaries, typed manuscript and newspaper submissions. He incorporated poetic phrases and sentimental touches to many situations. And Moses noticed flowers, commenting on them throughout his life.

In 1925, Moses wrote:

“… we were busy watching the annual Flower Parade through the principal streets of the city…However, as it was our first view, we will have to admit that it had some very interesting features in it, as many of the floats were made of the actual live flowers, the others artificial.”

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 20.

Little Boxes

The discovery of the paintbrush in loft above the stage prompted an extensive search. Soon, I was sitting in the dirt and peering two feet down into a six-inch gap along the studio floor, looking for more treasure. Austin’s arms were far longer, so he pulled out the majority of the items. It quickly became apparent to my crew that this was not a case of “finders keepers” as had been the case with the remainder of trash piles scattered throughout the building. I now confiscated everything, hoping to add to even more artistic provenance for the Fort Scott scenery collection.

In the same spot from where we retrieved the scenic brush, colorful pieces of wood began to emerge. I immediately identified these slats as pieces from dry pigment boxes. With each new discovery, I expressed extreme delight!

Brandon and Austin shot me a puzzling glance, almost every time that I examined an artifact. Occasionally they asked, “Are you taking THAT back to Minnesota too!?!” Their skepticism was understandable as most of the finds resembled construction trash, or broken bits of wood, in the dim light. Although they were broken and dirty, the pigment boxes still displayed the vibrant colors of their original contents.

What was a secondary surprise were the shipping labels. Although faded, black stencils denoted the manufacturer and client! For years, I had tracked down the various dry pigment suppliers in Chicago, trying to identify those who supplied Sosman & Landis Studios with their colors. I could now verify at least one of the suppliers for painted scenery projects.

The dry pigment had been shipped to “Sosman and Landis c/o the Scottish Rite Fort Scott, Kansas.” For me, this was a smoking gun

All the while, I kept thinking of the folk song “Little Boxes” with Malvina Reynold’s lyrics:

“There’s a green one and a pink one

And a blue one and a yellow one

And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky

And they all look just the same.”

Well, just like transporting 300 pounds of whiting and a wooden barrel, I was taking some “ticky-tacky” home.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 19.

Colorful Ruminations above the Stage

I climbed twenty-feet up above the stage, using the narrow metal ladder to reach a level that had once possibly been Thomas G. Moses’ onsite paint studio. At the age of sixty-eight, Moses had ascended this same ladder multiple times every day during his brief stay in Fort Scott to paint the scenery. I was reminded once again that scenic art has never been a profession for the weak.

The platform, or studio floor, above the stage area was now in abandoned ruins. In June 2014, all contents in the building had been auctioned off. By 2015 any artifacts remaining in the complex were only small piles of discarded items. Up here, there were only mounds of dirt and debris.

I tried to imagine the space as it was 1924 – a paint studio, complete with impromptu paint tables holding pots of color and brushes, maybe even buckets of water and a drop tacked onto the temporary frame. My initial hope had started to plummet, realizing that Austin might have been right and only the single barrel of whiting remained – nothing else.

Regardless, my first task was to look for splotches of dry pigment color on the floor marking paint spills or where the colorful powder had leaked from either bags or boxes. Areas with dry pigment could verify Moses’ onsite paint studio. The barrel of whiting could have technically have belonged to any onsite painter, not just a scenic artist. I needed more information.

There was almost too much dirt to even identify what was beneath my feet or what the floor was constructed of in the dim light. I continued my trek across the space, carefully looking down and trying to spot any anomaly amongst piles of dirt. Did I bring my flashlight up here? No, of course not. I tripped and kicked up some dust. Coughing, I also realized that I didn’t have my particle mask. It was next to my flashlight in the auditorium.

Oh well, I thought. Opening the barrel of whiting would warrant another trip up here anyway. I continued onto the barrel, careful not to trip in the dark – again- and I recognized that I could be courting disaster. No flashlight, no particle mask, and no railing along the steep edge. All I needed to do was to cough, trip, stumble and fall to the stage floor. The idea of this catastrophe resulting from Murphy’s law made me giggle. I had already tripped over the tubes downstairs and my ankle was swollen beyond recognition! I had a mental image of shouting “Charge!” and attempting to race up a staircase with my swollen ankle. What was I thinking?!?!

These distracting thoughts ceased as I neared the barrel of whiting, seeing a splotch of bright blue against the grey. I recognized it as dry pigment. Brandon noticed another one near the edge of the ledge too. There were colorful reminders of the past with every step! And the color wasn’t only on the floor, but there were also splatters of dry pigment all over the brick walls. At this point, I was ecstatic and internally celebrating the confirmation of my theory.

Austin, the youngest of our crew, became curious and crouched onto the dirty floor, crawling to the gap between the floor and brick wall. He got down on his hands and knees, brushed the dirt aside, and reached down into the gap. It reminded my of a movie scene from my youth when of Flash Gordon reached his hand into the tree trunk hole as a test of courage.

I kind of smirked as I thought, “Oh to be young again….” This smirk quickly turned to astonishment as he pulled a paintbrush from the crack. But this was not just any paintbrush, it was a scenic artist’s brush called a fitch!

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 18.

A Prime Discovery

The typed manuscript of Thomas G. Moses (1856-1934) provides an abundance of information concerning his design process and the creation of the painted scenery. His typed manuscript was created in 1931 and based on handwritten annual diaries. Moses first mentions working with the Valley of Fort Scott in 1923 writing that he felt “we were in line for the contract.” His story continues with his return in early May, “I made a colored sketch for the decorations and then gave another showing of my scenes and closed the contract.”

By August of 1924 Moses finalized the onsite details, met with his carpenter, and put in a full days work before continuing on his way to Colorado, Utah, California and Washington. In October he returned again few days. His intention was to return in two weeks to commence the painting to the scenery. At this time Moses battled a chronic cough and was beginning to have some health issues. He was 68 years old, overworked, constantly traveling, and taking little time to rest and recuperate.

On October 23^rd of that same year, he left for Fort Scott and immediately started work upon his arrival, staying until November 25^th. He recorded,” Fulton and I dug in to the work, and it was some hustle to get through, which we did on the 17^th of November. At the finish I got a payment of $7,000, the balance to be paid within a month. Our extras brought the contract up to $22,000.00.” Moses did not return to Fort Scott until August of 1925.

While we were onsite, I was able to identify where Moses had painted the majority of the scenery – 20’ above the stage floor. His onsite studio in 1924 was accessible by a narrow ladder that climbed up the back wall of the theatre – on the stage left side.

studio floor that was twenty feet above the stage

top of ladder next to paint studio floor

A few days before our departure, Austin was looking at the converted sewing machine engine on a ledge high above the stage floor, contemplating its removal as a souvenir. This machine tracked the moon for the 21^st degree ruined abbey scene and showed the ingenuity of Masonic stagehands. As he checked out the machine, we asked him to look around and see if there was anything else of note up there.

“Just an old wooden barrel,” was Austin’s response. My heart started to race and I immediately asked what was in it.

“I can’t tell as it’s still sealed. But there is a pile of white stuff next to it and the same type of powder leaking out of the seams.”

“Oh my God,” I thought and my heart leapt. He found a barrel of whiting!

barrel of whiting abandoned at Fort Scott studio

Now this might not sound exciting to many people – an old wooden barrel leaking white powder twenty feet above the stage.

whiting barrel with leaking powder from cracks

What many people don’t know is that whiting was the product used by scenic artists to prime painted backdrops. The chances that this was an original barrel purchased by Moses and abandoned onsite after completing the job was very likely. Whiting was cheap, but too heavy to ship back to the studio.

The traditional formula for drop primer was mixing strong size (diluted hide glue) with a fine powder that primarily consisted of silica, zinc, lead, or a mixture of thereof. The powder was soaked in a galvanized tub of water overnight, making sure that it was thoroughly dissolved and free from lumps. Then it was then “slaked” before using; this process separated out the gritty substance from the chalk. The chalk was scooped out and mixed with strong size. The primer was evenly worked into the fabric of the drop, thus providing a clean and uniform base on which to draw the design.

Part of original paint frame with whiting – used as part of a wooden batten on a drop

If an entire unopened barrel of whiting was up there, what other treasures could be hidden away under a layer of filth? Would I be able to verify that Moses used this space as a temporary onsite studio? We headed toward the ladder to check out this exciting new discovery.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 17.

Rolling the Drops

The drops were loosely rolled to transport down the winding staircase to the first floor in Fort Scott. There, they would need to be unrolled and rolled again onto cardboard tubes for shipping. Prior to any final rolling, however, they we carefully matched up all of the scenes. Entire scenes were not lowered simultaneously; we slowly worked from upstage to downstage in succession for safety reasons.

A year earlier, I had completed this same task with Paul Sannerud and was absolutely dreading it. For the Winona scenery, we carefully flattened each scene on the floor and rolled each drop onto 6” tubes of PVC. This was an option due to the shorter length of twenty feet – the height of each scene. For Fort Scott we needed longer tubes -twenty-five feet, hence the cardboard tubes from North Carolina.

(2014 in Winona, MN)

I had found a company that manufactured shipping tubes to order. Unfortunately, due to the initial contractual delays, the tubes were very late in arriving – so we had to alter my anticipated process. Instead of “lower, take downstairs, roll and stack” it became “lower, take downstairs, place somewhere, and wait to roll.” This meant that I had to divide each scene on the first floor and remember where all of the scenes were once we started rolling – as there would be a specific placement in order to unload into the collection into the storage unit.

The difficulty of this task is always trying to roll a piece of fabric that is not flat. When a drop hangs for decades, the shape becomes altered overtime and it is no longer a perfect rectangle. People fail to understand that the fabric continues to stretch from a variety of factors. Primarily, uneven pick points allow the weight of the batten at the bottom of the drop to reshape the rectangle into a trapezoid – often undetectable from the auditorium. Then there is the hourglass shape with curling edges on each side of the drop – very identifiable from the audience.

Furthermore, the air currents bellow out the center. Think of it as the center of the drop moving forward and backward, gradually stretching the fabric, resulting in a central sagging. These alterations are almost imperceivable, until you lay the fabric on the floor. Some areas will form bubbles, like when you played in gym class “parachute.” Remember how all of the edges could be brought to the floor and the center puffed up? A similar thing happens to the drop when all of the fabric settles to the ground, there are still irregularities in the center.

Another way to understand the difficulty of this task is to think of rolling linoleum on a tube. The rigidity allows it to roll perfectly. This is not what happens with old fabric and wrinkles appear. When wrinkles appear during rolling, the fabric subsequently creases and the paint it cracks off, thus forming an irreparable line.

Even after restoration, wrinkles often occur during rolling. That is the reason why I am so adamant about only restoring scenery on site. You might have a restored a drop and it looks perfect on the floor, but the rolling and transport will damage all of your work during transport. Therefore, you would need to do additional work once it arrived at the space; work that would be extra and drive up the overall expense. This was another point of contention with the CEO. He refused to believe that the drops couldn’t be restored off site and transported without harm.

There was not a single space on the first floor where were could fully layout the drop which added an additional layer of complexity to the process. Prior to rolling, we had to accordion pleat about two-thirds of the scene.

I had always rolled up the drops on the floor, but Brandon invented a rolling machine to save our backs and knees! He called his invention the “rigger – mo’ – roll!”

He picked up saw horses and casters from Kansas City to create a fabric roller. It took a while to assemble, but I was amazed. Not perfect, but the weight of the fabric would keep the rolls taut and minimize the wrinkles. In the end, each drop would weigh 100 pounds. and take four men to safely transport.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, part 16.

Stonehenge

I need to explain some Scottish Rite history in prior to discussing the Stonehenge composition. I will simplify this history as much as possible so that your eyes don’t glaze over before getting to the scenery part.

The Scottish Rite is divided into two jurisdictions that are based on geographical demarcations. The Southern Jurisdiction is west of the Mississippi and south of the Ohio River. This means that the majority of the country belongs to the Southern Jurisdiction. I am not going to discuss what caused the division or the reason for the appearance of multiple Supreme Councils (governing bodies) in the North.

In the past, I have argued (in various publications and in my doctoral dissertation) that the earliest degree productions were performed in the Northern Jurisdiction.

Why? Competition.

You see, during the mid-nineteenth century there were competing Supreme Councils in the Northern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite. This was not the case in the Southern Jurisdiction where one Grand Commander ruled from 1859-1891 (Albert Pike). If you are in competitive environment, WINNING requires more members and more money. Staging degrees was a great way to promote a superior ceremonial experience that would subsequently bring in more money. Keep in mind that during the 1920s there was even a candidate class of 1000! That is a pile of cash that results from initiation fees and membership dues.

Now in the Southern Jurisdiction, Grand Commander Pike passes away in 1891. Prior to his death, Scottish Rite stages were beginning to appear in the Southern Jurisdiction – especially Minnesota, a state that straddled the western geographical demarcation of the two jurisdictions. By the 1880s, small stages were appearing in Minnesota lodge rooms with settings for the obligatory (or indispensable) degrees.

Each degree could be an individual play with the potential for multiple acts. Each act could have numerous scenes. Money determined the size of scenery collections. Some Valleys had small stage with a set of ten roll drops while others had massive auditoriums with over a hundred drops that would be lower from a fly loft.

Grand Commander Pike in the Southern Jurisdiction was against the elaborate staging of degrees, stating, “The Rite in this [Southern] Jurisdiction is a Rite of instruction, and not of scenic pomp and stage-show…I can not conceive of a more useless occupation than the arranging and performing of degrees, neither the effect nor the purpose of which is to make men wiser or better, but which are acted as melodramas…”

(Pike in 1849)

(Pike as Grand Commander)

This pretty much sums up why Scottish Rite theaters didn’t pop up everywhere in the Southern Jurisdiction until AFTER Pike’s death in 1891 and then they appear EVERYWHERE. The Supreme Council takes a “non-action” in those first few years after Pike’s passing; no one wanted to stop the growth of the Scottish Rite. This neutral action enabled the expansion of degree productions and theatrical interpretations of the degrees.

But some of the interpretations went a little too far – especially in Kansas. New designs began to appear – Stonehenge – for the Vedic scene in the 30th degree. There are two extant scenic designs depicting this composition – so the drop in Fort Scott, Kansas wasn’t an anomaly. But was it regionally specific to Kansas? You see, many regions developed unique interpretations for each degree.

(Fort Scott, Kansas 1924 drop by Thomas G. Moses)

(Brandon noticing that the perspective of the central units is wrong – the top and bottom don’t work)

(painted detail)

(Actual Stonehenge for reference)

Just a few hours to the west of Fort Scott in Wichita, there was another unusual composition that appeared. The stagehands still refer to this as the “goddess degree.” And I first encountered it during August of 2015 on our road trip from Fort Scott to Guthrie, Oklahoma.

(Wichita, Kansas Scottish Rite “Goddess Drop”)

(Cut opening supported with bobbinet)

(Backing for cut opening)

(Painted details and metallic foils for sparkle effect on stage)

Enter a new friend and kindred spirit -Janet Wolter, author of “America, Nation of the Goddess: The Venus Families and the Founding of the United States.” We met while volunteering at the Minneapolis Scottish Rite library. One of our first discoveries was a handwritten Grange ritual. At that point, I started to learn about the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. Beginning in 1867, it too had secret meetings, oaths, and passwords, incorporating themes from Greek and Roman mythology. This intrigued me and I thought about the Stonehenge and Goddess scenes in Kansas, telling Janet about my discoveries.

Janet suggested that Grange characteristics may have been incorporated into the ceremonies of other organizations. Were these new Scottish Rite compositions a type of outreach to Grange members?

Attached below are two examples of a Grange Hall.

(Canaan, Maine Grange Hall)

(Norway, Maine Grange Hall)

To be continued…