Scottish Rite Research Library under fire for hoarding books

Washington, DC -- How much control should a library be able to retain over its books, and when does that control become detrimental? That is the question being raised by a number of new members of the Scottish Rite, who have charge the Scottish Rite Research Library, and its curator Arturo De Hoyos, with hoarding books instead of allowing them to be promulgated throughout the Masonic community.

"Honestly, we're not trying to start any trouble," said Brother Don Wayne Stacy of Cheddar Lodge 522 in Cracker, Wisconsin. "It's just that I've been a Mason for two or three years now, and I've been a 32º SR Mason since last summer, and there's just nothing left to read for guys like me to develop a more esoteric understanding of our Craft. All we're asking for is that the Scottish Rite start releasing copies of those thousands of books that they have, so we can do our own reading and research."

Some other members of this movement for a more transparent Scottish Rite have a different take on things, though.

"Yeah, some guys are convinced that the library curators are hoarding the old books, but there are some of us that are now questioning whether the Scottish Rite even has those kinds of books to begin with," said Brother Joseph Nieves of Deer Dressing Lodge 288 in Deliverance, Tennessee. "I mean, we're always hearing about all these rare and esoteric books and stuff, but nobody has actually, you know, seen them. Some of us are beginning to think that those claims are all just smoke in order to keep the rest of us in awe of the old guard power structure. I mean, you've got all these guys in my chapter who talk about Brent Spiner and Art De Hojos like they're some kind of religious figures. But what if there aren't any of those old books, you know?"

The Past Bastard reached out to WB De Hoyos, who responded "With all the guys complaining about their dues as it is, there's no way we could hire a full time staff to transcribe these old works, let alone translate the ones from German or French, and get them all out to the local lodges and chapters. As it is, we're way behind in our plan to have statues of Albert Pike in all 50 states, and once that's done, then it will be time to look at some major repairs on the Washington facilities."

He then added, "If those 2 or 3 year Masons want to volunteer some of their vacation time to come to Washington and transcribe a book or two, we could probably have all this done in a couple of years. I'd talk more on this, but I'm on my way to the gun range, where I'm sighting in a new Russian Dragunov."

Some of the new Scottish Rite members remain unconvinced, though. "What if all the Scottish Rite books are just, you know, nothing but old books and not really esoteric at all?" they have asked. "What if the Scottish Rite is just one more body to take your money and give you titles and bling and stuff, but offers nothing in return?"

-- Conte Calvino Gliostro