We are introducing our new OVN podcast series 'Vrijmetselarij, geschiedenis en onderzoek' (Freemasonry, history and research). This first installment is in English. Listen to the lectures presented at the international conference about the Dutch Museum of Freemasonry in May 2023. If you could not be there in person, you can still enjoy the fascinating talks by international experts from various fields of study on the history and scope of this amazing collection. Listen to the podcast here or subscribe to it on Spotify or another podcast platform.

International OVN conference 2023

'A heritage collection, unparalleled elsewhere in the world': An introduction to the Museum of Freemasonry in The Hague

On May 25th 2023 academic experts from the USA, UK, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and The Netherlands will discuss the history and cultural importance of the 'Vrijmetselarij Museum', the Museum of Freemasonry in The Hague, The Netherlands. The collection reflects not only the development of freemasonry, its tolerant worldview and unique ritual tradition, but also 300 years of Dutch history, as well as the lives and works of 70.000 members. Pre-registration is already possible via info@stichtingovn.nl. 

The program with information on registration fees, location, etc. is available on this page. All presentations will be given in English.

14th International Symposium on the History of the Spanish Freemasonry

The CEHME (Center for Historical Studies of the Spanish Freemasonry) International Symposium on the History of the Spanish Freemasonry is taking place in the north of Spain, in Gijón, September 10-12, 2015. The symposium invites scholars to share their experiences and conclusions on the contextual framework of Spanish-Portuguese and Latin American Freemasonry. From Absolutism to Democracy. (1815-2015). Information: rehmlac.com

Study day for doctoral students on the history of Freemasonry

After London (2012) and Brussels (2013), the University of Bordeaux hosts the third international study day for doctoral students on the history of Freemasonry. The organizers Andrew Pink (University College London), Cécile Révauger (Université Bordeaux Montaigne) and Jeffrey Tyssens (Free University Brussels-VUB) again welcome young Ph.D-students to present their research to a panel of colleagues and experts. Presentations are given by Amanda Brown, Simon Deschamps, Rachel Kopelman, Miguel Hernandez, Brinda Venkaya Reichert and Christian Meyer. 

Thursday March 13, 2014, 9am - 4:30pm, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France.

Upcoming Conferences

- The organization of the upcoming international conference Ways of Gnosis: Mystical and esoteric traditions from Antiquity to the present time (10-13 April 2013) has circulated a call for papers. This  event is organized by the All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature, Association for the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism, in cooperation with the Institute “Russian Anthropological School” of the Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow), the Research Centre for Esotericism and Mysticism at Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities (St. Petersburg), the Scientific-Educational Centre “Free Philosophical Society”, and is supported by the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE). Deadline for applications is 20 February 2013, but for those who need a visum to travel to Russia, the deadline is earlier: 15 January 2013. Contact: symposium04.2013@gmail.com.

- On Wednesday 27 March 2013 the second international Student Day on the history of freemasonry will take place under the guidance of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The aims are the stimulation of knowledge on freemasonry under the participants and  the development of an international network.
Study Day organizers are: dr. Andrew Pink (UCL, UK), agpink01@gmail.com; prof. Cécile Rivauger (Université de Bordeaux, France), cecile.revauger@wanadoo.fr; prof. Jeffrey Tyssens (VUB, Belgium), jtyssens@vub.ac.be. Details from the previous Study Day in 2012 can be found here.

Date change for Lexington conference

The National Heritage Museum in Lexington (USA) announces a call for papers for its biannual symposium, Perspectives on American Freemasonry and Fraternalism, to be held on 28 April 2012 (please note the change from the previously announced date!). The deadline for paper proposals has been extended to 2 January 2012. For more information, check the museums blog.

New publications

The postprints of the conference on women and freemasonry, organized at the University of Bordeaux 3 in 2010 are now available: Cécile Révauger/Jacques Lemaire (eds.), Les femmes et la franc-maçonnerie. Des Lumières à nos jours: Volume 1. XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, Volume 2. XXe et XXIe siècles, La Pensée et les Hommes 2011. A 20 % discount offer applies to orders received before 15 September 2011: € 40 for both volumes + € 7.10 postage.  Orders: christiane.loir@ulb.ac.be.

- André Hanou, De loge Concordia Vincit Animos te Amsterdam. Namenlijsten (1755-ca 1825), Astraea, 2011, ISBN 978 90 75179 30 9, 75 pages, € 10,-. Lodge Concordia Vincit Animos (CVA) was constituted on 14 april 1755 and is still active in Amsterdam today. During the first 75 years, this lodge counted many authors, politicians and other 'thinkers' amongst its members. The book contains the membership and visitor lists between 1755 and 1825. These show that the lodge had a very cosmopolitan character, with visitors arriving from Western Europe, but also the East and West Indies.

- Jan A.M. Snoek, Einführung in die Westliche Esoterik, für Freimaurer, lodge Modestia cum Libertate, Zürich 2011, 271 pag., 40 CHF (ca. € 31) plus verzendkosten. Snoek discusses the history of various esoteric currents with significance for the development of freemasonry: Astrology, Neuplatonism, Gnosticism, Alchemy, Cabbalism, Hermeticism, the Astrea-cult, Rosicrucianism and Occultism, as well as the building traditions. The last chapter provides examples of their influence of freemasonry. While the book was written for a masonic audience, students and scholars will also benefit from this introduction into the subject. Orders: bi@modestia.ch.

- Helmut Reinalter, Geheimbünde in Tirol. Von der Aufklärung bis zur Revolution 1848/49, (Quellen und Darstellungen zur europäischen Freimaurerei 12), Studienverlag, Innsbruck 2011, ISBN 978-3-7065-4461-0, 292 pag., € 39.90. Revised and expanded edition of a standard work dating from 1982, which discusses the role of freemasonry in political and cultural developments in the late Enlightenment in Tirol.

From the same publisher: Reinhold Dosch, Deutsches Freimaurerlexikon, (Edition zum rauhen Stein 14), Studienverlag, Innsbruck 2011, ISBN 978-3-7065-4522-8, 416 pag, € 49.90.

- P.L. Dunbar, 'Hidden in Plain Sight: African American Secret Societies and Black Freemasonry', Journal of African American Studies (2011), pp. 1-16. [thanks to Robert Peter.]

- Elly Keus, In de voetsporen van Rakoczy. Het honderdjarige bestaan van een bijzondere loge, De Steensplinter, 2011. Lodge Rakoczy was founded in The Hague 1911 by the Dutch branch of the International Order of Co-Masonry 'Le Droit Humain', but separated from the Orden together with two other mixed lodges. They founded a new Order, the Nederlandsch Verbond van Vrijmetselaren (which translates as The Dutch Union of Freemasons) in 1917. Lodge Rakoczy attracted many artist members, including the well known architect K.P.C. De Bazel. He designed a temple complex in The Hague, which housed both the theosophical and masonic lodges of which De Bazel was a member. The building is now part of the Museum of Communication. 

Call for papers

The School of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tampere is organizing an international conference titled: Edges of Freemasonry - Western Esotericism and the Enlightenment, to take place on 7–8 September 2012. The conference, organized in association with the Research Lodge Minerva No. 27, is open to scholars, freemasons and the public.
The key themes to be discussed are: The historical constitution of freemasonry; the connections between western esotericism and the development of modern science; symbols as cultural artefacts and transmission objects between the personal and the transcendence; extending the rational: rites, intuition and religious experience in western subjectivity. Keynote speakers are Professor Ronald Hutton (University of Bristol, U.K.), Dr. Róbert Péter (University of Szeged, Hungary), Dr. Henrik Bogdan (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) and Mr. Antti Talvitie, Architect MSc. (Seinäjoki, Finland).
Paper proposalss for general sessions (abstract 400—600 words) should be sent via email to Mr. Antti Harmainen (papers[at]edges.fi) and Ms. Katariina Lehto (papers[at]symposium.fi) before 31 January 2012; papers for other sessions may be sent later. For registration and details of the conference, please see http://www.edges.fi/.

Conferences

- The Fifth Conference of the Association for the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism (ASEM) will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia on December 2-5, 2011. The conference theme is History and Discourse: Historical and Philosophical Aspects of the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism. The keynote speaker will be Professor Dr Wouter Hanegraaff from the University of Amsterdam. For more information about the call for papers please follow the link: http://asem.ucoz.org/index/call_for_papers_2011/0-31.

- Coinciding with the 130 anniversary of the creation of the National Grand Lodge of Romania (MLNR) the Romanian Institute for the Study of Freemasonry organizes an international conference on the theme: 'Freemasonry and Fraternalism under authoritarian regimes / dictatorships of the twentieth century', 15-18 September 2011 in Bucharest (Romania). Info: http://www.irsmf.ro/. Contact: Sorin Antohi, sorin.n.antohi@gmail.com.

Conference: Knowledge to die for

The conference Knowledge to die for: Transmission of Prohibited and Esoteric Knowledge through Space and Time will take place on May 2-4 2011 at the Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science in Berlin.
The conference deals with prohibited, heretical and esoteric knowledge, as attested in Mesopotamia and in ancient Jewish, Rabbinic, and Apocalyptic literature, as well as in Christian and Islamic contexts, pre-Islamic and later Iranian sources, and incorporating Judeo-Christian-Muslim heterodoxies.
Speakers will include: Michael Stone (Jerusalem), Boris Uspenskij (Naples), Gebhard Selz (Vienna), Tal Ilan (Berlin), Alexander Kulik (Jerusalem), James Russell (Harvard), Dimitri Gutas (Yale), Hans Kippenberg (Bremen), Angelika Neuwirth (Berlin), Antonio Panaino (Bologna), Maria Macuch (Berlin), Velizar Sadovski (Vienna), Jens Braarvig (Oslo), Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst (Berlin), Yuri Stoyanov (London), David Shankland (London), Matteo Martelli (Berlin).
Organiser: Prof. Dr. Florentina Badalanova Geller, fgeller@zedat.fu-berlin.de. Contact: Kirsten Koners, kirsten.koners@topoi.org.

The Philanthropy Files

The Museum and Library of Freemasonry in London is hosting The Philanthropy Files: records of charities and their uses, the annual conference of the British Records Association (BRA) on 7 December 2010. The programme includes speakers, both archivists and academic historians, on various aspects of charity history. As Archivist and Records Manager and a British Records Association Council member, Susan Snell will be contributing an overview of Masonic involvement in philanthropy, highlighting records available for research at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry. Please do not contact the Library and Museum if you would like to attend this conference - for registration see the BRA website: http://www.britishrecordsassociation.org.uk/pages/events.htm

Freemasons and Enlightenment: radicalism contested?

The Research Centers for the Study of Freemasonry (FREE) and the Study of the Enlightenment (VERL) at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) are organizing an international conference on the theme of Freemasons and Enlightenment: radicalism contested? on 9-10 December 2010. Speakers include:

- The Enlightenment and Freemasonry: A Critical Enquiry, Prof. Dr. Margaret Jacob, University of California, United States
- L’illusion radicale – La 'camera obscura' des Lumières, Prof. Dr. Charles Porset, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France
- Radicalisme d'origine ou malentendu fondateur? La franc-maçonnerie dans les premiers pamphlets anti-maçonniques (1738-1742), Prof. Dr. Roger Dachez,
Université Paris III - Denis Diderot, France
- Russian freemasonry: A peculiar mixture of Aufklärung and Erleuchtung, Dr. Ton de Kok, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Libre pensée et idée de Lumières dans la Nahdha arabe: Le cas d’Adib Ishaq (1856-1884), Prof. Dr. Abdelaziz Labib, Université de Tunis El-Manar, Tunisia
- The Radical Enlightenment's Critique of Freemasonry: from Lessing to Mirabeau, Prof. Dr. Jonathan Israel, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, United States'
- English freemasonry during the Enlightenment: how radical, how conservative?, Prof. Dr. Cécile Revauger, Université Michel de Montaigne-Bordeaux 3, France
- Les Illuminés de Bavière, une franc-maçonnerie "radicale"?, Prof. Dr. Jean Mondot, Université Michel de Montaigne-Bordeaux 3, France
- Cosmopolitanism versus conflicting local and national identities in the Habsburg territories. Masonic networks and their political involvement under Joseph II, Dr. Tristan Coignard, Université Michel de Montaigne-Bordeaux 3, France
- Enlightenment, either way!, Drs. Gerard Bonneke, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Radicalism and Extremism are mutually exclusive, Prof. Dr. Ludo Abicht, University of Antwerp, Belgium

Registration fee: € 30,- (students € 15,-), incl. lunch. Registration deadline: 1 December 2010 (by e-mail to: Kees.Veenstra@vub.ac.be, stating name and number of persons). More information: http://www.vub.ac.be/freemasons-and-enlightenment/

CMRC conference

The Canonbury Masonic Research Centre in London is organizing its twelfth annual conference, which this year is devoted to the theme of ‘Anti-Masonry’. The full programme, including many prominent academic speakers, is available here. Topics discussed range from
the Unlawful Societies Act to the Protocols of Zion and Fascist attitudes to freemasonry.

Conference: Women and freemasonry since the Enlightenment

On 17-19 June 2010, an important conference will take place at the Université de Bordeaux in France: Les femmes et la franc-maçonnerie, des Lumières à nos jours. The extensive program, which includes sessions in both French and English with many prominent scholars of freemasonry, can be found at the website of co-organizer, Cécile Revauger. Contact information: ecile.revauger@u-bordeaux3.fr

Call for papers: CMRC 2010

The Canonbury Masonic Research Centre (CMRC) has distributed a call for papers for its 12th annual conference on the theme of Anti-Masonry scheduled for 30-31 October, 2010. The full text of the call is available at the CRMC's website. Paper proposals (max. 300 words) including a short c.v. can be submitted until 20 May 2010. For further information: conference@canonbury.ac.uk.

Call for Papers IAHR

Allison Coudert (University of California at Davis), Cathy Gutierrez (Sweet Briar College) and Marco Pasi (Universiteit van Amsterdam) are organizing a panel on Western esotericism and its boundaries: Between discourses of identity and difference at the IAHR Quinquennial World Congress in Toronto, 15-21 August 2010:

'In the last 20 years it has become customary for specialists to define esotericism as "western." This has a series of implications that are usually left in the background and not addressed explicitly. The purpose of the panel is to discuss precisely these aspects, namely: Why should esotericism be defined as western in the first place? Where do we want to draw the boundaries of the "West"? Are Jewish and Islamic forms of esotericism to be included in "western" esotericism, and if not, why? Finally, if we want to reject the tag "western," what are the possible alternatives? In what way could we open up the study of esotericism to multiculturality? Could we do this by studying possible historical influences or rather by using a comparative approach that focuses on possible common patterns and analogies?
We welcome papers that address the use of esotericism as a theoretical designation in the construction of identity and difference while negotiating geographical and ideological boundaries. Proposals for papers on specific historical strains of esoteric thinking are also welcome, particularly those that address the formation of discourses of difference'.

Proposals, together with a brief curriculum, should be sent before 31 March 2010 to Cathy Gutierrez (cgutierrez@sbc.edu) and/or Marco Pasi (m.pasi@uva.nl).

National Heritage Museum Symposium

The National Heritage Museum in Lexington (Massachussets, USA) will host the conference on 'New Perspectives on American Freemasonry and Fraternalism' op 9 April 2010: 'The symposium seeks to present the newest research on American fraternal groups from the past through the present day. By 1900, over 250 American fraternal groups existed, numbering six million members. The study of their activities and influence in the United States, past and present, offers the potential for new interpretations of American society and culture'. Speakers are:

- Jessica Harland-Jacobs (Associate Professor of History at the University of Florida/author of Builders of Empire: Freemasonry and British Imperialism, 1717-1927): 'Worlds of Brothers',
- Damien Amblard (doctoral student, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York), 'French Counter-Enlightenment Intellectuals and American Antimasonry: A Transatlantic Approach, 1789-1800',
- Hannah M. Lane (Assistant Professor, Mount Allison University), 'Freemasonry and Identity/ies in 19th-
Century New Brunswick and Eastern Maine',
- Nicholas Bell (Curator, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum), 'An Ark of the New Republic',
- David Bjelajac (Professor of Art History, George Washington University), 'Freemasonry, Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and the Fraternal Ethos of American Art',
- Ami Pflugrad-Jackisch (Assistant Professor of History, University of Michigan – Flint), 'Brothers of a Vow: Secret Fraternal Orders in Antebellum Virginia',
- Kristofer Allerfeldt (Exeter University), 'Nationalism, Masons, Klansmen and Kansas in the 1920s'.

The registration deadline is 24 March 2010. For more information, contact Claudia Roche at croche@monh.org.

Seminar: Jacobites and Freemasonry

On 5 December 2009 the University of Paris IV Sorbonne will host a seminar in collaboration with the journal Politica Hermetica: La Franc-Maçonnerie au XVIIIe siècle et les Stuarts, stratégies politiques, réseaux, entre mythes et réalité et. Speakers are:

- Duchein Michel, ‘Le contexte politico religieux dans l'Angleterre des derniers Stuarts: the Jacques aux hanovriens II’,
- Steve Murdoch, ‘Jacobites and Hanoverian British Freemasons in their Scandinavian Context’,
- Jean-Marie Mercier, ‘Les origines de la franc-maçonnerie jacobites avignonnaise, mythology historique à une repenser’,
- José Antonio Ferrer-Benimelli, ‘La présence de la Maçonnerie Jacobite à Madrid et à Rome’,
- Robert Collis, ‘L'influence des Jacobites sur le développement de la Russie’,
- Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire, ‘Le Parnasse the Chaulnes, royal et l'Art, peut-on parler d'une franc-maçonnerie Jacobite au XVIIIe siècle?’.

Conference: freemasonry and slavery

The University of Bordeaux will host a conference on 7 and 8 December 2009, discussing the relationship between freemasonry and slavery: Société des plantations, slavery Abolition et dans la Caraibe anglophone, francophone et hispanophone. Speakers are:

- Jacques de Cauna (Université de Pau), ‘Etienne de Polvirel, un projet abolitionniste d'inspiration magonnique?’,
- Eric Saunier (Université du Havre), ‘Les francs-maçons, la traite des noirs et l'esclavage: un bilan de la recherche’,
- Cécile Rivauger (Université de Bordeaux 3), ‘Franc-maçonnerie, esclavage et abolitions dans deux colonies britanniques: la Barbade et Trinidad’,
- François Hubert (Musée d'Aquitaine et Jacques de Cauna): ‘La réprésentation de la traite et de l'esclavage dans les nouvelles salles du Musée d'Aquitaine’,
- François Poirier (Université de Paris VIII), ‘From dreamland to nightmare: the Sierra Leone plantation, 1787-1810’,
- Pedro Welch, (UWI, Barbados), ‘Precursors to Abolition in the British Caribbean: Manumission and Freedom Maneuvers in the Case of Barbados’,
- Dominique Gongalves (Université de Bordeaux), 'Evangélisation, rentabilité et sécurité dans les plantations sucréhres cubaines la fin du XVIIIe siècle’.
- Agnès Renault (Université du Havre), ‘Les esclaves de Français dans les plantations de café Cuba’,
- Karen Bourdier, (Université de Pau), ‘La mère et l'enfant dans les sucreries du Nord de Saint-Domingue entre profit iconomique et sauvegarde du capital humain’,
- Trevor Burnard, ‘Jamaican Planters and the Growth of the Plantation System in Jamaica, 1674-1744’,
- Marcel Dorigny, ‘La société de plantation de Saint-Domingue : l'apport des statistiques de la traite "la connaissance des structures de la plantation domingoise" la fin de la période coloniale’.

Information: cecile.revauger @ u-bordeaux3.fr.

Conference German QC study lodge

The German study lodge 'Quatuor Coronatí' is hosting a conference on 10 and 11 October 2009 on the theme of 'Religion und religiöse Aufklärung in der Freimaurerei'. This event is also accessible for interested non-members. Speakers are:

- Ronald Pokoyski MA, Jena, 'Erscheinungsformen des Religiösen';
- Prof. Dr. Monika Neugebauer-Wölk, Halle, 'Esoterische Religiosität und ihre Bedeutung für die Freimaurerei';
- Prof. Dr. Jan Snoek, Heidelberg, 'Religion und Religiosität in der „frühen“ Freimaurerei';
- Dr. Mathias Pöhlmann, Berlin, 'Gottesdienst und freimaurerisches Ritual: Überscheidungen, Unterschiede, Gegensätze';
- Prof. Dr. Herbert Schnädelbach, Hamburg, 'Die Bedeutung der Religion in der deutschen Gegenwartsgesellschaft';
- Prof. Dr. Hans-Hermann Höhmann, Köln, 'Zum Religionsdiskurs in der deutschen Freimaurerei';
- Prof. Dr. Eugen Drewermann, Paderborn, 'Wozu Religion?'.

For more information and registration, please contact: Winfried Brinkmann, wibrin@htp-tel.de