Jessica Linzel (right) looks through pieces of the Charles A. Sankey Collection available in Brock’s Special Collections and Archives within the James A. Gibson Library as part of her third year research project on Colonel Robert Nelles. Linzel has been able to connect her volunteer work at Nelles Manor with her history studies, including a research project on the local history of freemasonry. She is pictured here with fellow student Grace Viana.A long-running Brock University lecture series has inspired a new history course focused on fraternalism and the Freemasons.
The third-year offering, which launched in January, is closely linked to the Dr. Charles A. Sankey Lecture Series hosted by the University every spring. The lecture, focused on the history of the Freemasons, this year takes place Sunday, March 26 in Sean O’Sullivan Theatre.
After years of helping to organize the annual lecture, Associate Professor Renée Lafferty-Salhany was inspired to create a course that examines the concept of fraternalism throughout history.
“I started noticing ways the language of fraternalism, not just Masonic fraternalism, was everywhere in the things I was researching,” Lafferty-Salhany said. “The lecture series had me identifying fraternalism as something that at various points in time has had a real presence in many communities.”
Lafferty-Salhany has used the knowledge she’s gained through her experience with the Sankey Lecture to help shape the new third-year course, which has been in the works for several years.
“It allows us the opportunity to get students up into the archives working with the Sankey Collection,” she said. Charles Sankey, a Freemason and historian of Freemasonry, donated his personal library to Brock. The collection was used by the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario as the basis for a larger historic collection.
The new course is an opportunity to highlight the collection, which Lafferty-Salhany described as the “crown jewel of the History department.”
Students were provided insight into the types of Masonic records available in Brock’s Special Collections and Archives and were encouraged to access them.
“We had students pulling documents out of the Sankey collection and encouraging their classmates to read them. That exposure was pretty amazing,” she said.
“It’s all about getting students to recognize what they have access to. It’s so special to have those archives.”
In addition to the Freemasons, students in the class have spent time researching fraternalism in the military, the Napoleonic and Vietnam wars and in North Korea.
“We’ve talked about everything from conspiracy theories to Masonic history. It’s been a far more diverse course than I had expected,” Lafferty-Salhany said.
“They’re covering everything from the KKK to the Orange Order to the Knights of Labor. There’s just an amazing variety of topics.”
More information on the Charles A. Sankey Lecture is available in a recent Brock News story.
