A meeting of the Academy of Masonic Knowledge of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania will be held at the Freemason Cultural Center in Masonic Village at Elizabethtown. Those Masons interested in learning about the more esoteric and historical elements of Freemasonry are invited to attend this semi-annual symposium either in person or via livestream. Registration will open at 8:30 a.m. with the program beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Lunch will be served at noon and the program will be completed by 3:00 p.m. All Masons are welcome to attend. Dress is coat and tie.

A special 25th Anniversary Banquet will be held the evening of Saturday, March 15, 2025, in the Brossman Ballroom at the Masonic Village at Elizabethtown. Registration details for this event are forthcoming.

Cost: $20.00

Dress Code: Business formal

Registration: 8:30 - 9:30 a.m.

Those Masons interested in attending in-person, can use the button below:

Below is information on the guest speakers invited to attend the symposium, courtesy of the Academy of Masonic Knowledge:

Speaker Information

Bro. Timothy Winkle
Aprons in the Attic: Collecting Communities at the Smithsonian Institution

Tim Winkle is a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, focusing on firefighting, law enforcement, and community organizations, including the history of American fraternalism.  Prior to this, he worked as a cataloger with the Library and Museum of Freemasonry in London, and he served for several years as Archivist for the historic collections held by Alexandria Washington Lodge No. 22 in Alexandria, Virginia.  Tim has researched and written on the connections between fraternal groups and museum collections in the Early Republic, and he recently co-authored an article on Alexander von Humboldt’s relationship to Freemasonry for the International Review of Humboldt Studies.

Rebecca Davis
Join or Die

This presentation includes a special screening of the feature length documentary “Join or Die.” The documentary will not be live streamed, but is available for viewing on Netflix. Rebecca Davis, a producer of the film, will then join the Academy live, in person, for a Q&A session. Learn more at https://www.joinordiefilm.com/

In this feature documentary, follow the half-century story of America’s civic unraveling through the journey of legendary social scientist Robert Putnam, whose groundbreaking “Bowling Alone” research into America’s decades-long decline in community connections.

Bro. & Dr. David Harrison
25th Anniversary Key Note Address

Dr. Harrison will be speaking at the banquet, held the evening of the 15th. This portion of the event will not be livestreamed.

Dr David Harrison is a UK based Masonic historian archaeologist who has written six books on the history of Freemasonry, and contributed many papers and articles on the subject to various journals and magazines. His work appears in Philalethes Magazine, Freemasonry Today, MQ Magazine, The Square, Knight Templar Magazine, Heredom, and New Dawn Magazine. Harrison has also appeared on TV and radio providing expertise and insight into the subject of Freemasonry.

Having gained his PhD from the University of Liverpool in 2008, which focused on the development of English Freemasonry. His thesis was subsequently published in March 2009 as a book entitled The Genesis of Freemasonry. A follow-up work entitled The Transformation of Freemasonry was published the following year. Both works received critical acclaim. His next work -a book which dealt with the Liverpool Masonic Rebellion and the Wigan Grand Lodge was published in 2012, followed by A Quick Guide to Freemasonry which was published in November 2013. A fifth book on the York Grand Lodge was published in 2014, and his latest work Freemasonry and Fraternal Societies was published in 2015.