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.

Pause in posts

 We have decided to temporarily pause adding new posts to this blog. Partially for personal reasons, as our small team sometimes needs to concentrate on work and family issues. Partially for practical reasons, as news on academic events and publications is shared much quicker through social media. Please feel free to follow us on Twitter: @stichtingovn.

Freemasonry at Tong Tong Fair 2016

Tong Tong Fair is a famous, annual Asian festival, which takes place in The Hague, The Netherlands, from 28th May until 5th June 2016 This year, freemasonry and its historical lodge buildings are amongst the themes explored in the festival's exhibition, lecture and actvitities program. For more information, follow this link: tongtongfair.nl/vrijmetselarij/.

Building of Lodge De Vriendschap, Surabaya, founded in 1808.
Photo: CMC Prince Frederik, The Hague.

Upcoming thesis defence

Our chairwoman, art historian Andréa Kroon, has for the last few years been working on a thesis with the title: Masonic networks, material culture & international trade. The participation of Dutch freemasons in the commercial & cultural exchange with Southeast Asia, 1735-1853. This project has recently been completed. Kroon will defend her thesis on 26 november 2015 at the Leiden University. More information is availale (in Dutch) in the online calendar of the university.

CMC to remain in The Hague

The Cultural Masonic Centre in the Hague has been closed to visitors since summer 2014 in preparation of an anticipated move to another location. A decision has now been made by the Order of Freemasons under the Grand East of the Netherlands to move its historical archive, library and museum collection from a building in the Jan Evertstraat to its new headquarters in the Javastraat in the same city. This brings an end to years of discussion and controversy about a new home for this important collection of masonic heritage.
Meanwhile, the CMC collection is participating in various digitalisation projects of the National Library in the Netherlands, which means more of the collection will be accessible online in the near future.

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

Network Weave

Research network WEAVE (Western Esotericism in modern Art and Visual Culture) is a thematic network of ESSWE (European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism). WEAVE aims to be a a research network connecting scholars studying the interplay of heterodox spiritualties with Modern western art and visual culture. Scholars of all disciplines, interests, backgrounds and convictions are welcome. The phrase “heterodox spirituality” includes Western esotericism, occultism, occulture, mysticism, alternative Modern spirituality, and contemporary spiritualities. See the new website (which includes a conference agenda) for more information: networkweave.com.

Handbook of Freemasonry

OVN- board member dr. Jan Snoek (University of Heidelberg) and dr. Henrik Bogdan (University of Gothenburg) have been working together for several years on a major project for Brill Academic Publishers: The Handbook of Freemasonry. This pioneering reference work includes contributions from leading scholars in the academic field of study, The first section covers historical perspectives, such as the origins and early history of the Order. The second deals with the relationship between freemasonry and religious traditions, while the third covers organisational themes, such as ritual practice. The fourth section deals with issues related to society and politics - women, blacks, colonialism, nationalism, and war. The fifth and final section adresses the subject of freemasonry's relationship with culture and the arts.

David Vergauwen PhD

Last Wednesday, May 21, David Vergauwen was awarded a doctoral degree from Free University Brussels-VUB, with highest distinction. David Vergauwen is an historian, art historian and musicologist and graduated at Ghent University. He is a member of the Interdisciplinary Research Group Freemasonry-VUB. 
His dissertation subject was "Où peut-on être mieux?" Muziek en muzikanten in de negentiende-eeuwse Brusselse vrijmetselarij. (The best place to be. Music and musicians in 19th-century Brussels Freemasonry.) Supervisor was professor Jeffrey Tyssens. The abstract to his dissertation can be downloaded here. 

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.

Sessions on Western Esotericism at AAR meeting 2014

The next meeting of the American Academy of Religion will include, as has been the case for a number of years now, several sessions organized by the group for Western esotericism (co-chaired by Cathy Gutierrez and Marco Pasi). This group seeks to reflect and further stimulate the current process — reflected in the recent creation of new teaching programs, international associations, journals, book series, and reference works — of professionalization and scholarly recognition of Western esotericism as a new area of research in the study of religion. For more information on the field, see the websites of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE, http://www.esswe.org), the Association for the Study of Esotericism (ASE, http://www.aseweb.org), and the Center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam (http://amsterdamhermetica.nl).

For the necxt meeting of the AAR in San Diego 2014, the Western esotericism group invites paper proposals on the following topics:

• Lived esotericism: In the last fifteen years the concept of "lived religion" has gained attention from scholars and has been at the basis of a growing number of researches and publications. The Group would like to explore the possibility to apply this concept to the study of Western esotericism. Western esotericism has often been studied by focusing on texts and doctrines, more rarely on the actual experiences of esotericists trying to translate those texts and doctrines into lived, daily practice. The predominant approach based on intellectual history has perhaps led to an idealized, partial image of the social and cultural dimensions of Western esotericism. Please note that proposals should not focus necessarily on contemporary Western esotericism. Proposals on earlier periods will also be welcome.

• Esotericism and imaginative narratives: Possible topics include but are not limited to mystical or initiatory rites presented as fiction, novels that deal extensively with the transmission of esoteric knowledge, and esotericism in popular culture and film. As always, the Group seeks papers from as wide a range of historical periods as possible.

• Transformative and performative aspects of gender in esoteric practices (for a possible joint session with the Queer Studies in Religion Group)

• Western esotericism and African American culture: There is in recent years a growing interest in the study of Western esotericism in the context of African American culture. The Group welcomes proposals on this topic (for a possible joint session with the Afro-American Religious History Group).

• Western esotericism and ritual studies: We are interested in receiving proposals that focus on the way in which esoteric rituals can be related to nature, the environment, or ecological concerns (for a possible joint session with the Ritual Studies Group)

Please look for further information on how to submit directly in the AAR website (https://www.aarweb.org/annual-meeting/call-for-papers).The deadline for the submission of proposals is Monday, 3 March 2014.

New Board Member OVN

The board of the OVN has recently welcomed a new member: drs. Jimmy Koppen. He graduated as an historian and is currently working as a researcher at the Center for Academic and Secular Archives (CAVA), Free University Brussels - VUB. Koppen is also a member of the Interdisciplinary Research Group Freemasonry (FREE) and adjunct professor at Vesalius College Brussels. He regulary publishes on Freemasonry, secularism and freethought and political history of Belgium. Amongst his publications is a book on the actions of the Nazi regime against Freemasons ans Jews in occupied Belgium, 1940-1944 (Passer en Davidster) and The Economics of Providence. Management, finances and patrimony of religious orders and congregations in Europe, 1773-1930 (co-edited with Maarten Van Dijck, Jan De Maeyer and Jeffrey Tyssens). He also wrote the Dutch edition of Freemasons for Dummies, and has a personal blog on Freemasonry (in Dutch only).

OVN Tweets!

The OVN Foundation exchanged its printed newsletter for this digital version in 2007. The rise of social media makes blogging feel almost oldfasioned, so we've added a Twitter account. Feel free to follow us at @stichtingovn.

Change of Adress

The postall adress of the OVN Foundation has changed per 1/1/2014! Please note the new adress in your administration, so your announcements and questions will keep on reaching us:

OVN Foundation
PO BOX 65700
2506 EA The Hague
The Netherlands 

 Our e-mailadress remains unchanged (info@stichtingovn.nl).

Enchanted Modernities

'Enchanted Modernities: Theosophy, Modernism and the Arts, c. 1875-1960' is a new interdisciplinary academic project. Bringing together scholars who are experts on the visual arts, music, sound and literature from all over the world, the Network's events will explore what the visual, material and performing arts can tell us about the relationships between Theosophy, modernity and mysticism c. 1875-1960. The research carried out by the Network’s partners will examine where and how artists, writers and performers came into contact with Theosophy and other mystical practices, and how Theosophical ideas, especially those of key figures in the Society in this period, such as Helena Blavatsky and Annie Besant, were given material, visual and audible form and shape. Read more here.

Lecture series CIERL

The Centre Interdisciplinaire d'Etude des Religions et de la Laïcité in Brussels is organizing a series of lectures (in French) on freemasonry in February 2013. The program can be downloaded here.

Dissertations

- Art historian Tessel Bauduin obtained her doctorate on 20 December 2012 at the University of Amsterdam on The occultation of Surrealism: a Study of the Relationship between Bretonian Surrealism and Western Esotericism. One of her main conclusions states that although Surrealism was 'influenced' by western esotercism, it didn't mean that artists like André Breton were 'followers' of a particular current. According to Bauduin they did take an interest in esoteric ideas, but only used certain concepts and practises as a way to tap into the creative subconscious and create works of art.

- Anaïs Maes defended her dissertation La franc-maçonnerie et la construction d'indentités nationales en Belgique (long XIXe siècle) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel on 9 May 2012. The dissertation looks at the relation between freemasonry and nationalism. How did freemasons react to the rise of nationalistic sentiment at the beginning of the 19th century and the creation of the Belgian state? Maes looked for answers in the documents which got into Russian hands after WWII and stayed there for more than half a century.For a balanced answer she studied both masonic and non masonic sources from these archives.

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.

Publications

- Austrian researcher Eugen Semrau has published Erleuchtung und Verblendung. Einflüsse esoterischen Gedankenguts auf die Entwicklung der Wiener Moderne. The book describes the Viennese modernism in art and culture around 1900, with Vienna as the centre of the 'revolution of the mind'. The book contains chapters on the development of 'alternative thinking' in Europe, 'naional' esotericism and the relation between western esotericism, freemasonry and religion.

- John Belton's new oublication, The English Masonic Union of 1813, describes the issues and personalities involved in the bringing together of the Antients and the Moderns in 1813, in order to form the United Grand Lodge of England. Belton offers new perspectives on this important event in the history of British freemasonry.

-The exhibition Egypt in England (The Quadriga Gallery, Wellington Arch, London, 7 November 2012 until 13 January 2013) shows the cultural influence of ancient Egypt, from the Regency period to the Art Deco interiors of cinemas. The exhibition is based on a new book by Chris Elliot, which contains a chapter titled 'Freemasonry: Wisdom from the East and the Pharaohs Apron'.