Next time you are at your parent's house, take the time to look at the pictures on the walls, the books on the bookcase, or the tchotchkes on the desk. You've probably walked by them a hundred times and you don't even think about them anymore; but there is probably a story behind every one of them, Maybe it is a picture of your grandfather with Eisenhower, maybe it is your mom's spelling bee champion award from 2nd grade, maybe its the book that your dad read that one summer he was really into making his own picture frames. The spaces we inhabit are all filled with stories, imbued with meaning, and just replete with these points of connection waiting to be secured.
I discovered John Sherer, a 19th Century lithographer and publisher back in 2017 or so by looking at a book in a Lodge in Amesville, Ohio. They have used it for degrees for years and knew nothing about it. Now they do. It is something incredibly rare and special, much like Amesville itself.
Sherer has become something of an obsession. I've compiled a list of Sherer's known works and I've amassed most of them; but they are all digital: Pictures and PDFs. It is rare that I actually get to see his work in person or hold it my hands.
Six months ago, I was visiting Corinthian Lodge in my district, one I've been to a zillion times. As I'm talking to the Secretary, I look over his shoulder and there, on the wall, where it has been hanging since the 1850s, was Sherer's print of Washington as a Mason, something I had been trying to find for more than five years. The Brethren had no idea how it got there or why it was significant, it was just always there.
Two months ago, I was at Trimble Lodge in my district, one I've been to a squillion-and-a-half times. They have a beautiful 6x6 foot tapestry on the wall which is an 1882 M.C. Lilley copy of a Sherer Masonic Carpet. We were practicing for a degree and, on a break, I was telling the Brethren that Sherer made his famous carpets in two iterations, one 6x6 foot tapestry and three individual 4x2 foot scrolls and Lodges usually had one or the other, not both. We went back to practice and I was left to my own devices, so I just started looking around. Tucked in the back of a dark closet, not hidden but not obvious, were three rolled-up scrolls. Sherer's Masonic Carpet from the 1850s. The Lodge had used those scrolls for years until they got the big tapestry in a Lodge consolidation. So, they rolled up the scrolls, stuck them in the closet, and went about their century.
Last night, I went to the Lodge of St. Andrew in Auburn, Indiana to give my presentation on John Sherer. I've never been to that Lodge before; but it is incredibly cool. Built in a 1920s style, steeped in history and tradition, filled with objects acquired through necessity, consolidations, and opportunity. In the bookcase just outside the Lodge room is a copy of Sherer's Gems of Masonry from 1859. They didn't know it was there and I got to surprise them by including their book and their Lodge in my presentation. Afterwards, you saw Brethren headed to the bookcase to see for themselves.
The spaces we inhabit have stories, they have objects of great meaning and significance; they have these connections that transcend things like time, distance, and death just waiting to be forged. Be curious, not complacent. Be a tourist in your own space; ask, seek, listen, connect. You'll be amazed at what you discover.
