Detail of the Masonic symbol from a late 18th/early 19th century pitcher in the NHS collections.
Thursday April 11, 2013 at 5:30pm
Colony House, Washington Square
$5 per person, $1 NHS members
Please RSVP to 401-841-8770
Commonly associated with democratic patriotism and the American and French Revolutions, Freemasonry in the eighteenth century was far more complex than familiar myths assume.
During the lecture, Mr. Biagetti will discuss how the early Freemasons of Rhode Island defy simple generalizations. After a brief period of success and prestige in the 1750s, the lodges in Newport and Providence imploded in the Stamp Act crisis. In the years of political turmoil that followed, many Rhode Island Masons fled in the Loyalist exodus. Mr. Biagetti will explain how the story of Freemasonry in Rhode Island underscores the importance of ritual, symbolism, and emotion in forging Masonic bonds—and the power of politics to challenge or even destroy those same bonds.
Samuel Biagetti grew up in Maryland and received his A.B. in History from Brown University in 2006. He is currently a PhD candidate in early American history at Columbia University, researching early Freemasonry in Rhode Island before 1800 for his dissertation, titled, “The Unfinished Temple: The Rhode Island Freemasons and the Masonic World”. He has previously presented research at the Symposium on American Freemasonry and Fraternalism, and is also a published poet.
This program is sponsored in part by Pearls Boutique Hotels.
