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The splendid new
building which
houses the Centre
for Research Into
Freemasonry
The University of Sheffield’s Centre for
Research into Freemasonry (CRF) has now
moved into its magnificent new premises,
and during May two landmark events were
held launching the new facilities which
were addressed by leading international
scholars and attended by large and
enthusiastic audiences.
The CRF forms part of the University’s
award-winning Humanities Research
Institute (HRI). To provide expanded
facilities for the HRI, a beautiful early
Victorian house, formerly the vicarage
of St James’s Church, Sheffield, has been
carefully restored.
Thanks to a munificent donation by the
Liafail Foundation, a striking new extension
has been added which incorporates new
offices for the CRF, space for visiting
scholars, a digitisation suite, and state-ofthe-
art lecture and seminar facilities. The
extension has Sheffield’s first ‘green roof’.
These new facilities have been named the
Douglas Knoop Centre, after the Professor
of Economics at the University from 1920
to 1948. Knoop was initiated in University
Lodge No. 3911 at Sheffield in 1921 and
was Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No.
2076, the oldest Lodge of Masonic research.
With his colleagues G. P. Jones and
Douglas Hamer, Knoop produced the
largest single body of academic research
into Freemasonry so far undertaken at
a British University.
The inaugural conference of the CRF
in the Douglas Knoop Centre was held on
3 May 2006. Delegates were welcomed by
Professor Robert Boucher, Vice-Chancellor
of the University of Sheffield, and Professor
David Shepherd, Director of Arts and
Humanities Research.
Both Professor Boucher and Professor
Shepherd expressed their enthusiasm for
the work of the CRF and their hope that the
new premises will provide a platform for
continued expansion of its activities and that
the developing research and teaching agenda
of the CRF will embrace other forms of
fraternal organisation as well as Freemasonry.
Professor Andrew Prescott, Director of
the CRF, discussed the contribution of
Douglas Knoop to the study of Freemasonry.
Since 2003, the Supreme Grand Chapter has
joined the United Grand Lodge in financing
the CRF, and the importance of the Royal
Arch as a field of investigation was eloquently
described by Richard Crane of Quatuor
Coronati Lodge, a former Prestonian lecturer.
In the afternoon, the conference was
addressed by three of the most outstanding
scholars working on the history of
Freemasonry. Professor David Stevenson of
St Andrew’s University gave an enthralling
overview of the history of Scottish
Freemasonry. Professor Ton van de Sande,
Chair of Freemasonry as an Intellectual
Current and Socio-cultural European
Phenomenon at the University of Leiden
in the Netherlands, entertainingly discussed
the issues affecting scholarly investigation
of Freemasonry.
The day concluded with a fascinating
lecture by Professor Margaret Jacob of the
University of California at Los Angeles.
Professor Jacob used the records of a Lodge in
Bordeaux, recently discovered in the archives
returned from Moscow to Paris, to illustrate
how Freemasonry contributed to the
emergence of a more cosmopolitan society
in the 18th century.
Professor Jacob’s lecture was given in
memory of Sam Allen, a keen Freemason
from Clacton-on-Sea, and friends of Sam
made a generous contribution towards the
costs of the lecture.
On 26 May 2006, the new HRI building
was formally opened by Professor Phillip
Esler, Chief Executive of the Arts and
Humanities Research Council. The senior
director of the Liafail Foundation unveiled
a plaque honouring Douglas Knoop and
commemorating the Foundation’s gift.
There were various displays on the work
of the CRF, including an exhibition of
beautiful aprons, jewels and books kindly lent
by the Hallamshire College Library. Among
the books from the Hallamshire College
Library on display were many with personal
connections with Knoop.
Delegates at the opening
of the new centre
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MQ Magazine
Web site created by Mark Griffin
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