VISUAL AIDS IN MASONIC EDUCATION

This Short Talk Bulletin has been adapted from a paper presented at 
the Northeast Conference on Masonic Education and Libraries in 1963 
by the late Most Worshipful Brother Conrad Hahn, PGM, Connecticut and 
former Executive Secretary of The Masonic Service Association.

In considering this subject, we must not be misled into thinking that 
we have suddenly gone modern. Visual aids in education are not only 
one of the oldest specialties in modern pedagogical practices; they 
are also among the oldest teaching devices used by man. Even 
Pythagoras used visual aids in demonstrating the 47th Problem; he 
probably traced the figure on the sand so that his students could 
visualize it. Freemasonry, likewise, has been using visual aids ever 
since it became an instructive art,
whether operative or speculative.

During the eighteenth century the lodge of each degree was traced 
upon the floor of the room in which the brethren met. With such 
designs it was possible to illustrate many of the symbolic actions of 
the ritual by actually walking the candidate through the various 
areas of the Craftmen's lodge.

By the time the nineteenth century had arrived, these charcoal, 
chalk, and clay designs on the floor (rather messy to remove) had 
given way to tracing boards or wall charts, on which the Master or 
instructor pointed to the various symbols or objects which were 
delineated thereon for the visual instruction of the candidate. In 
America the most famous of these was Jeremy Cross', The True Masonic 
Chart and Hieroglyphical Monitor. Such charts enjoyed a vogue in the 
1800's which is hard to describe to modern lodge members, because 
they are not accustomed to complete exemplifications of the symbolic 
degrees, including all sections of the lectures.

From the very beginning of symbolic initiations in fraternal 
organizations, ritualistic floor work was conceived and intended to 
be a visual as well as an auditory or dramatic aid to the instruction 
of candidates. What the candidate sees is one of the most important 
devices for impressing on his mind the spirit and tenets of the 
institution. This is why neat and proper dress, smooth and 
intelligible
rendition of speeches, clean aprons, well maintained costumes, 
precise and well rehearsed movements--all are important visual aids 
to impress upon the initiate the dignity, decorum, philosophy and 
traditions of Freemasonry. Any discussion of visual aids for Masonic 
education, therefore, should begin with an insistance on thorough, 
competent, ritualistic floor work. Good ritual exemplification is a 
"must" in Masonic instruction, for seeing is believing.

Most of us, however, in talking about visual aids in education, have 
in mind such modern mechanical devices as films, motion picture 
projectors, film strips, tachistoscopes, graphs, speed reading 
machines, etc. Grand Lodge committees on Masonic culture or education 
would be well advised to go slowly in considering plans for promoting 
the use of many such devices in the constituent lodges as a
result of the advice of well-meaning brethren who are "experts" in 
the field of visual education. There are definite limiations on the 
use of modern visual aids in Masonic lodges.

The chief function of a Grand Lodge Committee on Masonic Culture or 
Education, so far as visual aids are concerned, should be the 
collecting and collating of information about visual aids. What 
Masonic or other suitable films, slides, film strips, projectors, 
stereopticans, charts, etc. are there available within the 
Jurisdiction. Where? Which are available on loan, or for purchase, or 
rental?
What are the best one.s for lodge halls or larger auditoriums? All 
these questions can be answered by experts in the field of visual 
education, or by representatives of corporations which manufacture 
visual aids equipment, and which have spent much time and money in 
researching this area.

For many years Masonic lodges have limited their use of visual aids 
to slides projected through a stereoptican, to illustrate the symbols 
explained in the lectures of the degrees. As a matter of fact, such 
slides (or film strips) are practically the only visual aids 
equipment advertised in the catalogs of Masonic Supply companies. Of 
course, some Grand Jurisdictions do not permit their use.

I trust I shall not be completely misunderstood when I say, 
"Brethrcn, it's time for a change!" The available slides and film 
strips are as dated as antimacassars and Morris Chairs; they are 
artistically crude and uninspiring. Some are horrible examples of 
over-crowded design or composition. Some are
illogical in the point of view presented throughout a series, jumping 
from the ancient to the Victorian, and back to a mediaeval 
conception. They don't impress well-educated initiates; they bore 
them or cause them to laugh.

I have never forgotten my first impressions of the four cardinal 
virtues explained in the E.A. degree. There were flashed on the 
screen four stiff, amply bosomed goddesses of doubtful Greek origin, 
so vacant in their expressions, and so voluminously draped in a mid-
Victorian fashion, that when Prudence appeared, I instinctively 
shuddered and said to myself, "Her name may be Prudence, but the
only thing her father and mother taught her was prudery . "

I'm not asking for an Epstein nude or a spidery Modern Calder mobile; 
but certainly we have enough gifted Brothers in the arts of design 
and painting, who could produce symbolic suggestions of the four 
cardinal virtues more appropriate to the age of Space, not to have to 
put up with that dull and listless
stuff any longer.

In fact, with the enthusiasm for photography prevalent today, and 
with the excellent equipment being used by shutter-bugs in every 
community, lodges could be encouraged to initiate some "do it 
yourself" projects for visual aids of this kind. Glass slides can 
still be made fairly cheaply on the handicraft basis. Some Brothers 
with skills in sketching and design could be put to work to make such
illuminated aids for ritualistic instruction in the lectures of the 
three degrees. The more we can give new members some challenging and 
interesting projects to complete, the more we shall capture and hold 
their interest in Masonry .

The commonest area of interest in visual aids, especially in Masonic 
lodges today, is motion pictures, not primarily for instructional 
purposes, but for purposes of entertainment and inspiration. Here 
again, Grand Lodge Committees should consider their function to be 
simply that of a clearing-house or information center. Some value 
judgments will have to be made concerning the kinds of films to list, 
because willy-nilly, such catalogs of films will become "official," 
in the sense that "the Grand Lodge approves these films for lodge 
use." Film library experts should be consulted and used in this kind 
of work.

The most logical place to start is with the Film Library at the state 
university. Practically all of them maintain prints of motion 
pictures for educational and inspirational use which are available to 
schools, civic agencies, clubs, and industrial training programs. The 
rental fees are usually quite modest. Every Grand Lodge Committee on 
Masonic Information could work up such a list of recommended films 
for lodge programs, by consulting the film librarians at their state 
universities.

Businesses and industrial corporations sometimes make available an 
outstanding play or special program which they sponsored as a 
television program. These films, if available, are usually listed in 
the film catalogs or agencies like the ones mentioned above.

In addition, corporations arc also producing films for their own 
public relations programs; and while many of these are fundamentally 
"sales talks" to push their own products, some of thcm rise above 
that level and become valuable programs for general education .

Really, the greatest problem in developing a catalog of films for 
lodge use is NOT where to turn or what to look for; it's the fact 
that you can never stop. Such lists will have to be revised and added 
to year after year.

Let me also remind you that your Masonic Service Association has 
produced some films for lodge use,--primarily to furnish good 
speakers via the movie camera for lodges which cannot bring 
outstanding speakers into their lodges. M.S.A. maintains a library of 
Masonic films which are available for a small rental service fee.

While I do not believe that Committees on Masonic Education should 
encourage the use of motion pictures as the principal programming 
device for their constituent lodges, especially for "educational" or 
"inspirational nights," I am sure that we all agree that these visual 
aids have a definite place in the over-all improvement of lodge 
activities, especially in helping Masters bring light to the Craft.
But Masters need help. They need information. and that is why I 
suggest that such committees limit their function to provide film 
catalogs and lists to benefit the lodges of their Jurisdiction .

There is indeed a God's plenty in this particular area of visual 
aids. Consult the experts. It some of them are Brothers, put them to 
work. They'll like their Masonry better if they can serve it 
usefully.

Motion pictures are here to stay. They can serve the great purposes 
for which we are laboring here. So let there be light-about visual 
aids as well as about mentor systems and lodges of instruction.

Editors Note: Films available from The Masonic Service Association 
are listed and summarized in thc Masonic Digests and Films catalog 
which will be furnished upon request.


