Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Framed Letter from Harry Truman to Grand Lodge of Massachusetts
1952
Harry S. Truman
USA: Washington, D.C.
a: ink on paper; b: wood
frame: 12-3/8"h x 9-3/4"w x 3/4"d; sheet: 8-3/4"h x 6-3/4"w
Loaned by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts
GL2004.0147a-b

a: Typed letter from President Harry Truman to the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free, Ancient & Accepted Masons, Boston, Massachusetts; discusses giving to the GLMA a stone taken from the walls of the White House during its just-completed rebuilding; each Grand Lodge in the USA received one of these stones. Written November 22, 1952. b: frame with US Govt. plaque at bottom

From 1948 through 1952, the Federal government gutted and renovated the White House. While inspecting the work, President Harry S. Truman, Past Grand Master of Missouri, discovered a pile of discarded original foundation stones, many of which bore the marks of the Scottish stonemasons who built the White House in the 1790s. Realizing their importance, Truman sent a marked stone (see GL2004.0146) to every U.S. Grand Lodge, as well as to the Scottish Rite Southern and Northern Masonic Jurisdictions, along with this letter. For further information, see Newell, Aimee, et.al., "Curiosities of the Craft: Treasures from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts Collection", 2013, p. 68-69; and blog post, February 18, 2010 http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/2010/02/at-the-end-of-world-war-ii-president-harry-s-truman-1884-1972-became-aware-that-the-white-house-needed-extensive-repairs.html