DeMolay International just turned 100 years old this year. To celebrate, employees of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library provided the fraternal youth organization the gift of service.
Back in March 2019, Collections Manager Maureen Harper and Archivist John Coelho visited DeMolay International to provide their expertise at their headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. DeMolay staff were in the planning stages of putting together a special exhibit in honor of their centennial.
Harper and Coelho were introduced to DeMolay’s vast collection of artifacts and documents, and were able to share best practices for exhibitions, display methods, and collections storage and management. A field trip to The National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City provided a nice visual aid to DeMolay staff to show how all the various elements of graphics, interpretive strategies, and display methods can tell a story.
The exhibition was unveiled in June 2019 to coincide with DeMolay’s centennial celebration, where more than 1,300 DeMolay members gathered to commemorate the occasion. Some items of greatest interest include a first edition ritual, a retired International Congress Officer collar, and minutes from the first-ever recorded DeMolay meeting.
As a thank you for their hard work, Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library staff were recently recognized for their efforts with a certificate presented "Pro Servitio" and collar from DeMolay Grand Master Boyd Patterson, Jr. Sovereign Grand Commander David A. Glattly presented the honor to the Museum staff captured in the video.
If you’re near Lexington, Massachusetts, you can see our museum and library staff’s great work in person. In addition to the museum’s ongoing exhibitions, 100 Years of DeMolay and Order of DeMolay are on display from now until Jan. 2020.
About DeMolay International Founded in Kansas City, Missouri in 1919, DeMolay International (formerly the DeMolay Council and the Order of DeMolay) is a community based organization for young men, ages 12 to 21. DeMolay members learn life skills, responsibility, and cooperation by working together to carry out customized enrichment programs. For more information, visit www.demolay.org.
About Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library Established in 1975 by the Scottish Rite Freemasons of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library tells the story of Freemasonry and fraternalism in the context of American history. Unique in the nation, the Museum aims to be the “historical society” of American Freemasonry by collecting, preserving, interpreting and celebrating the history of fraternalism. Learn more at https://srmml.org.