The devaluation of historical scenery at one theater can affect the understanding and appreciation of others. At the same time we were planning the future of the Fort Scott collection in the Ives Auditorium, the City of Winona was also planning for the future for their Masonic collection.
During the summer of 2014, Paul Sannerud and I had put the entire Winona scenery collection to bed over the course of two action-packed weeks. Under the City’s watch, the collection had suffered extensive water damage from a leaking roof. To facilitate repairing the roof and restoration of the theater, Sannerud and I were hired to remove and place all of the drops into a custom-designed storage unit. This would protect the scenery during the renovation. Here is the link to images of the drops from my 2010 evaluation so you can see the collection in its entirety: https://www.cityofwinona.com/…/Historic-Masonic-Theater-Bac…
An individual representing the City of Winona contacted the general director of the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center during the fall of 2015 to discuss the significance and value of the Winona Scottish Rite scenery collection. Remember, at this time I was the Curatorial Director for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. The general director chose to not include me in the discussion concerning the Winona scenery collection and I was unaware of the conversation until he casually mentioned it a few weeks later.
I was finishing a meeting and packing up my notes when the general director made an offhanded comment about the City of Winona needing to find a home for their scenery collection or they were going to throw it away. My surprise changed to dismay and then smoldering anger as he explained his conversation with the individual from Winona. The general director described how he said that there was no market value for the historical scenery at all and the entire collection was simply a “cookie cutter collection” that had been replicated all over the United States. I immediately asked, “Who did you speak with from the City of Winona? Was it Chad Ubl? That’s who handles the management of the Masonic theatre and I’m surprised to believe that they would throw something out that they spent money on to store.” The only name that the general director could remember was “Mike.”
I decided to do a little checking before I tackled any problem, still reeling from the fact that I had not been included in a discussion about a local historical scenery collection. So I called the Sanneruds (Paul Sannerud and Peggy Nelson Sannerud) to see what was going on in Winona. The news of recent events was disheartening and I wondered how much the general director had devalued the Winona collection. I inquired if Ubl had been replaced by a gentleman named “Mike.” Sannerud explained that Ubl was still in the employ of the City, but there was a new plan for the Masonic Theater.
A potential investor, Mike Slaggie of Hurry Back Productions, had entered the picture. An unknown persona at the time, he would forever alter the future of Winona Masonic Theater and their scenery collection. Slaggie planned on making a significant investment in the restoration of the Masonic building as he envisioned it as a future multipurpose arts venue. His vision to restore the building, however, did not include all of the scenery and suggested that preserving the entire scenery collection would be detrimental to the endeavor. He saw a theatre museum as a liability to the overall success of this venture.
Here is a brief summary of why the Winona scenery collection is important on the world stage. The Winona Masonic Center was primarily placed on the National Register because of its scenery collection. Both Lance Brockman and Charlie Nelson (same man for whom the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center library is named) had made a concerted effort to outline the cultural heritage stored high above the stage. I believe that it is the most complete Masonic collection produced by Sosman & Landis Studio of Chicago.
This 1909 collection includes stage settings for Symbolic Lodge (Blue Lodge), York Rite, Shrine, and Scottish Rite degree productions. The designs for the auditorium interior are still available and contained in the Performing Arts Archives at the University of Minnesota. Additionally, many of the drop designs are also available in the online scenery collection database in the University of Minnesota Libraries (http://umedia.lib.umn.edu/scenicsearch). In other words, there is artistic provenance for the scenery collection. Some of the wooden counterweight frames (arbors) also have original manufacturer tags from Sosman & Landis – the first that I have encountered to date. Rick Boychuk (author of “Nobody Looks Up: the History of the Counterweight Rigging Systems”) could elaborate on the international significance of this particular counterweight rigging system too. Most importantly, I have recently been able to document the earliest use of Masonic scenery in the Southern Jurisdiction to Winona, Minnesota. This was an extremely significant collection that should be preserved in its entirety for future generations and not auctioned off piece-meal. The assessment and comments made by the general director were dead wrong and I believe contributed to the demise of this significant collection.
The Winona incident made me wonder why the general director was going out of his way to devalue historical scenery. Did he not realize that his actions – as a representative of a Heritage Center – had a lasting impact on the future preservation of other fraternal artifacts?
What might have been the outcome if the general director of the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center had forwarded on the Winona inquiry to the staff member who was hired on in part for her specialization in Masonic scenery?
To be continued…
