Encyclopedia Masonica

Born 1827, Brother Drummond was made a Freemason in 1849, and died on October 25, 1902, aged seventy-five. He served at the head of all the Masonic Bodies of his State, Maine, and had also been Grand High Priest of the General Grand Chapter, Grand Master of the General Grand Council, and Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. A Freemason for fifty-four years, this Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maine, 1860 to 1862, was for thirty-eight y ears a vigorous writer of the Foreign Correspondence Reports and of other valuable works on Freemasonry. Christopher Diehl of the Grand Lodge of Utah wrote of him in the Proceedings of 1903, "His whole life was devoted to Freemasonry and for it he did his best work and because of that work he will live in the hearts of his Brethren for all time to come. The world is better off because he lived. His fame is secure. May his last sleep be sweet." At the anniversary of the one hundred years since the death of Washington, conducted by the Grand Lodge of Virginia at Mount Vernon on December 14, 1899, when no less than seventeen Grand Masters were present together with the President of the United States, Brother Drummond was introduced by the Grand Master as follows:
"First of all I wish to call upon one whom Freemasonry delights to honor. The most erudite and accomplished Masonic scholar our century has known, the charm of whose personality and the strength of whose character, coupled with a conservative, calm and judicial mind, has made him not only beloved but a power of usefulness throughout the whole Masonic Fraternity" (see` Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, 1900).

The Encyclopedia Masonica exists to preserve the wealth of information that has been generated over the centuries by numerous Masonic authors. As Freemasonry is now Speculative and not Operative, the work of a Mason is now conducted in the quarries of symbolism, literature, history and scholasticism. Freemasonry encourages intellectual exploration and academic achievement in its members and many Masons over the years have taken up this calling. The result has been that an incredible amount of philosophy, symbolic speculation and academic insights have been created. However, as Freemasonry teaches, human knowledge is frail and fragile. It is easily lost in the turnings of the ages and unforeseen catastrophes can result in great setbacks to human knowledge.

For too long these great works have sat on forgotten shelves, gathering dust and concealing the light that could be shed on the darkness of our ignorance. The Encyclopedia Masonica has been created to act as an ark, sailing through time, to ensure that future generations of Freemasons have access to the same knowledge that inspired the Brethren that came before them. It will contain the works of such Masonic Luminaries as Albert G. Mackey, Manly Palmer Hall, G.S.M. Ward, Albert Pike and many others. The Encyclopedia Masonica is a living work and the volunteers of Universal Co-Masonry will continue to labor until the most comprehensive Masonic reference work the world has ever seen has been created. The Encyclopedia Masonica is open to any who wish to use it and will remain open so that the treasures contained within may increase the wealth of all those who seek its wisdom.