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for History

The story of Freemasonry is one of death and rebirth. As recent events show, when it comes to California Masonry, what’s old is new again.

During WWI, the Masonic Ambulance Corps was a grassroots effort by Masonic volunteers who were passionate to serve their country.

Examining the divisive issue of religion that’s unified the fraternity.

For centuries, Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist have been the patron saints of Freemasonry. But why?

From Ferndale to Big Bear, California’s small-town Masonic lodges have their own unique character—and offer a model for community involvement.

Fraternal societies like the Freemasons were born out of ancient, operative trade guilds. They weren’t the only ones.

For 64 years, the California Masonic Memorial Temple in San Francisco has been the home of the Masons of California. But it’s so much more.

Artist Emile Norman never became a household name. But his massive artwork remains a treasure of California Freemasonry in San Francisco.

At Freemasons’ Hall, inside the Grand Lodge of California temple in San Francisco, the past and future of Masonic lodge rooms collide.

The Siminoff Temple at the Masonic Homes of California has a history going back over a century.

For the select group of Masonic father-and-son combos, the Lewis Degree is a special ceremony binding generations of Masons.

There’s no missing the massive, Egyptian-inspired wall art known as the Raj Mahal, executed by Mason artist Raj Champieri, at Downey United No. 220.

An archival Masonic baseball jersey reveals a colorful American history of Freemasonry, lodges, and baseball.

These colorful Masonic destinations are on the must-see list of every Masonic traveler and admirer of the craft.

In the revolutionary movements of Latin America, Central America, and South America, Freemasons were front and center.

In 1909, a special delegation of California Masons set for Mexico City to deliver a world-famous Masonic traveling “Unity” trowel.

From Mexico to Argentina, Latin American countries embody a wide range of Masonic rituals, from the familiar to the highly esoteric.

150 years after he first proposed the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the legendary eccentric and Freemason Emperor Norton may finally get his due.

Freemasonry offers a framework to living a better life. That’s why it holds so many lessons for confronting death—and whatever comes next.

In rural Tuolumne County, a new effort to bring a pair of Gold Rush era Masonic cemeteries back to life.

Buried among the rocks and rubble of San Francisco’s Aquatic Park breakwater, a reminder of a long-lost Masonic graveyard.

The Masons moved out ages ago, but their aura remains at the Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

The California Masonic Symposium returns to explore Masonry’s spiritual roots.

The 18th century Benicia Masonic Hall, the oldest Masonic lodge in California, gets a 21st century makeover.

Examining the relationship of three literary legends with Freemasonry and its impact on their prolific bodies of work

Discovering the fraternal life of Mark Twain

Sacred geometry has been an important element of sacred architecture for centuries.

Celebrating one of the state’s most architecturally distinctive Masonic temples.

A new series on NBC Peacock, “Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol,” picks up on The Da Vinci Code-author’s Masonic-themed thriller.

In celebration of Independence Day, Grand Lodge of California head archivist Joe Evans shares a blue transferware cup plate dated between 1818 and 1836 that suggests Lady Justice a Freemason.

How one Freemason became a pioneer winemaker for the wine industry and a charter member of Sonoma County’s early Masonic lodge.

Twenty-five years ago, the Grand Lodge of California and the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of California changed the way we all view Freemasonry.

A historic Masonic temple in Vallejo finds new life as artists’ lofts.

A new exhibition remembers when the Knights Templar came to town.

For decades, Masonry has played a central role in the Filipino immigrant experience. Now a new generation is making its mark on the fraternity.

A hiding-in-plain sight Masonic hall in San Francisco tells a rich history of Filipino Freemasonry in California.