Forwarded on behalf of Mark Dennis, Curator, the Library and Museum of
Freemasonry
With apologies for cross posting. If you are interested in this workshop
please contact
[log in to unmask] or log onto
www.freemasonry.london.museum/news

Please do not reply directly to this email

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Please find below information about the forthcoming workshop which will
take place at the Peoples' History Museum, Manchester on 11th December.

We very much hope that you will be interested in this project, and that
you will be able to attend the Workshop.

If you would like more information, please contact us on
[log in to unmask]

or log onto  www.freemasonry.london.museum/news


Mark J. R.Dennis
Curator 

26th October 2006		
								
Facets of Fraternity
A Free Workshop Presented by the Subject Specialist Network for
Fraternal and Friendly Societies and Association

This is for: anyone with a social history collection or holding
artefacts including archival material, decorative and folk arts,
commemorative items or regalia.  

Friendly and fraternal societies provided mutual support in hard times,
sociability and moral leadership for their members of all ages, men and
women alike, from the 1700s. By the end of the nineteenth century their
membership numbered several millions and they were part of a family of
voluntary associations that included co-operatives, trades unions and
building societies. The flamboyant aprons and badges, mottoes and
commemorative objects of groups such as the Sisters of the Phoenix, the
Ancient Order of Foresters, the Free Gardeners and the Oddfellows were
once familiar in every town and city in the country. Many of these
objects now lie, largely forgotten, in local museums. One of the aims of
the network will be to uncover these hidden collections, help other
museums, libraries and archives make more effective use of them and
attract new audiences. 

A free one-day workshop at the People's History Museum in Manchester has
been organised on Monday 11th December which will provide an
introduction to this type of collection and look at how interpretation
strategies have developed to date.  Contact
[log in to unmask]
for further details of this event and the Subject Specialist Network.

Confirmed speakers so far include, Andy Durr of Brighton Fishing Museum,
Mark Dennis of the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, Professor Andrew
Prescott of Sheffield University, Victoria Solt Dennis the author of the
book 'Friendly and Fraternal Societies their Badges and Regalia' There
will also be an opportunity to discuss the development of this new
network and to show images or objects for identification by the
speakers.

This is supported by an initial grant from the Museums, Libraries and
Archives Council to explore the establishment of a Subject Specialist
Network on Fraternal and Friendly Societies and Association. It is one
of thirteen networks to have been awarded a grant recently.  MLA
Renaissance Manager Alison Hems has described Subject Specialist
Networks as mechanisms for sharing scholarship, collections and
collections expertise, research and interpretation skills, in order to
improve the way museums understand and use collections, for the benefit
of their audiences -  precisely the aims of this project.

Further details are available on
http://www.freemasonry.london.museum/news>

Images available on www.freemasonry.london.museum/press/index.htm


(c) The Library and Museum of Freemasonry 2004 - For more information
about The Library and Museum of Freemasonry please visit the website.
http://freemasonry.london.museum/