In a blog post written in March for the official Museum & Library blog, I introduced readers to this document from the collection—Supreme Council member Benjamin Dean’s (1824-1897) 1865 hand-written preamble and resolutions regarding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). In this article, I would like to introduce readers, once again, to Dean’s 1865 document, to examine its meaning, and to explore Mr. Lincoln’s connection to Freemasonry in greater detail.

Did you know that President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) corresponded with Melvin Maynard Johnson (1871-1957), the head of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction's Supreme Council during the 1940s and 1950s? A number of recently digitized letters, written from Truman to Johnson on White House stationery are available through the Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives Digital Collections website. They reveal a friendly relationship, with President Truman beginning his letters to Johnson by addressing him "Dear Mel."

Chewing tobacco—also known as plug tobacco or “chaw”—was the most common way to consume the tobacco plant in the mid-to-late 1800s. During this time American tobacco companies produced a variety of products related to chewing tobacco, including pouches, pipes, and spittoons. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a number of these items used Masonic imagery on their products or as part of a brand name. A few years ago the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library was given a tobacco pouch that advertises “on the Square” plug tobacco. The name fits within a square and compasses printed on the pouch. In 2020 another benefactor donated a tin tobacco container to the museum that appears to been made for this same tobacco manufacturer. Viewed together, these two objects and shed some light on a tobacco product made with a Masonic audience in mind.