Carriage House Records, 1908-1932

The records in this series document Abbott's years as Sovereign Grand Commander for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. The bulk of the records are in the form of correspondence from state Deputies and other Freemasons relating to the business of the Supreme Council, the Scottish Rite, and fraternal relations with Freemasons in other countries. This series documents the grandiose building projects and rapid growth of the 1920s and the beginning of the Great Depression. Other topics include Prohibition, fascism in Europe, American politics, Cerneau and clandestine masonry, charitable works including the Abbott scholarship fund, and the American nativist movement. Abbott and his deputies often discussed Lodges' religious intolerance of Catholic and Jewish freemasons and Abbott discouraged any involvement with the Ku Klux Klan. More personal correspondence documents Abbott's struggle with illness, his faith in Christian Science, and the grief over numerous deaths among Active Members during Abbott's tenure.

The records in this series document Abbott's years as Sovereign Grand Commander. The bulk of the records are in the form of correspondence, which detail the business, decisions, travel, visitations, investments, committee work, and benevolences of the Supreme Council and Scottish Rite under Abbott's leadership. Other records include tableaus, balustres, allocutions, speeches, publications, pamphlets, reports, newspaper clippings, meeting agendas and proceedings, telegrams, photographs, and obituaries.

Correspondents found here include Frederick W. Adams, Andrew D. Agnew, Harry P. Ballard, Henry L. Ballou, George H. Benzenberg, Franklin M. Boone, James H. Brice, James Isaac Buchanan, John J. Carton, Harry M. Cheney, Jerome L. Cheney, Bascom B. Clarke, William G. Crabill, Delmar D. Darrah, Winfield T. Durbin, Leory A. Goddard, Frederick W. Hamilton, Frank S. Harmon, Charles D. Heald, Walter J. Hunsperger, Axel P. Johnson, Melvin M. Johnson, Gaylard M. Leslie, Thomas R. Marshall, John P. McCune, Amos Pettibone, Arthur G. Pollard, Arthur D. Prince, Frank C. Sayrs, Robert A. Shirreffs, Ralph H. Sleeper, Edgar F. Smith, Charles H. Spilman, Sylvester O. Spring, Frederic B. Stevens, William L. Sweet, Frederick C. Thayer, Allen T. Treadway, Harry R. Virgin, Harry C. Walker, John S. Wallace, Perry W. Weidner, George B. Wheeler, and many more.

Note: Some files contain materials in Spanish, French, Greek, and Italian.