Part 694: The Scottish Rite in McAlester, Oklahoma, 1904
There was something else happening in the world of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry when the Scottish Rite in Kansas City, Kansas, was dedicated. In 1904 the Scottish Rite in McAlester, Oklahoma, photographically documented a few of their scenes, complete with costumed characters for the corresponding degrees. I first encountered these photographs while restoring the Scottish Rite scenery collection in the 1929 Masonic Temple. In a room with south-facing windows, a glass display case held a handful of photographs. There were several old photographs that depicted a small Scottish Rite stage and costumed degree teams.
The typed card that accompanied the photographs stated:
“These are pictures taken of McAlester Scottish Rite degree teams in 1904, taken on stage “The Tabernacle,” McAlester’s first Scottish Rite Temple. It was located on the south side of Washington Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets, where the drive in facility of the Bank, NA, is presently situated.”
As with many onsite discoveries, I carefully tucked this little bit of information away and went on with my work for about a decade. I did not think about the photographs again until I was working on “The Santa Fe Scottish Rite Temple: Freemasonry, Architecture and Theatre” book (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2018). We were trying to track down some interesting images of Harper S. Cunningham, Sovereign Grand Inspector General of New Mexico, when the Santa Fe Scottish Rite was being planned. Cunningham had also functioned as the S.G.I.G. of Oklahoma Territory before moving to Santa Fe to help with the impending plans for constructing a new home with stage. Cunningham was referred to as the “Temple Builder.” As possible images were passed back and forth, one included Cunningham seated in front of a candidate class. This was taken in front of Santa Fe’s first Scottish Rite stage on Water Street.
As with many Scottish Rite Valleys, the stage was constructed at the end of a Masonic hall. The intent of this stage was to get the members used to staging degrees, as they were planning a new theater in the proposed Scottish Rite building. Cunningham had directed the Snat Fe Scotish Rite to purchase the used scenery from the McAlester Scottish Rite Masons as they had just built a new stage and ordered new scenery.
As I looked at the photograph of Cunningham stoically seated amongst a candidate class of twenty-two men, I noticed the tassels on the drop curtain behind. Many Scottish Rite drop curtains during the first two decades of the twentieth century have a similar feel and composition, but I have yet to find two that are identical. When I compared the drop curtain in the Santa Fe photograph and the McAlester photograph, I realized that they were identical. The used scenery purchased from the McAlester Scottish Rite during the planning and construction of the Santa Fe Scottish Rite Cathedral was sitting in a display case in McAlester, Oklahoma.
At the time I documented the McAlester degree team images, they were deteriorating from direct exposure to sun and heat. I realized that it was unlikely a conservator had swept in after my departure from McAlester and removed the photographs form the cases to care for these significant images. I simply treasured the images that I already had and requested additional photographs depicting the scenery installed for the Santa Fe Scottish Rite Masons on Water street to get an understanding of the collection’s scope.
Jump ahead to the fall of 2018. I am carefully adding the research files of Professor Emeritus Lance Brockman to my own files. Years earlier, I had already added the research of Larry Hill, who thoughtfully sent me boxes of slides and past research about historic scenery, stage machinery, and panoramas upon his retirement. As I tucked Brockman’s “McAlester Scottish Rite file” in with my own, I quickly flipped through the contents. In one manila folder, there was a color copy of a 1995 letter from Rhett Bryson at Furman University (Greenville, South Carolina). It an old newspaper clipping. Bryson also traveled with Brockman and Hill across the country, documenting Scottish Rite scenery during the 18980s and 1990s.
The first 2” x 3” color image pictured in the letter was recognizable as the scenery behind the degree team for the 1904 McAlester Scottish Rite degree team photo. This was huge! Rhyson indicated that there were thirteen drops clearly marked “So. McAlister” on the back. This meant that the original scenery created for the McAlester Scottish Rite was used by the Santa Fe Scottish Rite and then shipped to and used by the Charleston Scottish Rite. The scenery had three lives! I was curious to see what I could find about the Scottish Rite stage in Charleston that used the scenery.
To be continued…
