Item #63811 PRINTED CIRCULAR LETTER to "every Subordinate Lodge in the United States, requesting a donation of twenty dollars in aid of our contemplated Seminary of Learning." Signed in type by Jerkins, from Newbern, N. C., February 4th, 1851. A. T. Jerkins, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.
PRINTED CIRCULAR LETTER to "every Subordinate Lodge in the United States, requesting a donation of twenty dollars in aid of our contemplated Seminary of Learning." Signed in type by Jerkins, from Newbern, N. C., February 4th, 1851.

PRINTED CIRCULAR LETTER to "every Subordinate Lodge in the United States, requesting a donation of twenty dollars in aid of our contemplated Seminary of Learning." Signed in type by Jerkins, from Newbern, N. C., February 4th, 1851.

Newbern, NC: Grand Lodge of North Carolina, 1851. Printed circular letter, small 4to (25 cm.), three paragraphs, on the first page of a bi-folium, the verso of the blank integral leaf employed as an address leaf (this copy addressed to the Secretary of Montgomery Lodge No. 31 / Zebulon Pike County / Georgia), docketed on that leaf "It is ordered by the court that the proposed sum be forthcoming immediately" and is signed "John Chatman Esq. / Zebulon Georgia / Pike County." A Masonic Seminary of Learning [would] be erected for the education of the poor and indigent sons of our Fraternity." After fits and starts, fundraising allowed the purchase of land in Oxford and the initial buildings were finished by 1857; the school never got off the ground, however, but in the early 1870s the project resulted in the opening of the Oxford Orphanage, still providing its services as the Masonic home for children. For a complete history cf. ibiblio.org/orphanage/history/. Apparently not in Thornton (but cf. 4529 for an 1844 pamphlet on the subject). Apparently not recorded on OCLC. Still very good. Folded for mailing (soiled, some ink notes on address leaf, sealing panel torn from integral leaf). (10298). Item #63811

Price: $125.00