Some of the documents date back to 1826
Oct 09, 2009 - 02:21 PM
By Parvaneh Pessian
WHITBY -- As Len Waltham sifts through a dusty pile of papers, it suddenly dawns on him that he's probably the only person who's laid eyes on the material in 30 years.
As historian for the Masonic Lodge in Whitby, Mr. Waltham recently decided to hand over six boxes of documents -- including minute books, petitions, bills and letters from the lodge dating as far back as 1826 -- to the Whitby archives.
"I have history at my heart," he said, explaining the meticulous care he's put into preserving the papers over the years.
"I believe in it, I'm thrilled by it and I hate to see anything old thrown out because some day, somebody will find it important."
The Whitby Masonic Lodge is an organization of freemasonry, which is part of the oldest and largest worldwide fraternity, and currently has 125 local members.
The documents were previously stored in a safe at the Masonic Lodge at 203 Cochrane St. in Whitby but Mr. Waltham decided it was time to find a new long-term home for them.
"My biggest fear is that some day, I will have to pass the keys onto the next person and he will look at some of this old stuff and wonder why anyone would keep this old junk but there's a lot of invaluable information in here."
The Masonic Lodge is the oldest organization in Whitby and some of the town's most influential figures were once a part of the group in the early days, according to town archivist Brian Winter.
"To have these documents really allows us to see something about the character of the people who made up these lodges over the years in the history of the town and some of them truly were the movers and shakers of Whitby," he said, listing several former mayors who were masons including Tom Edwards, Marcel Brunelle and Bob Attersley.
Masons continue to play a significant role in the community through various charity initiatives and the group will always hold a special place in the heritage of the town, he added.
"These documents are sometimes the only source we have for information on the early history of Whitby," he said, adding that records from earlier than 1850 are extremely difficult to come by.
"The fact that any of this stuff has survived all this time is amazing because for most organizations, you might find one minute book or one record book and that's all -- 99 per cent of them would have been destroyed over the years."
The Masonic Lodge documents are available for public viewing during business hours in the archives section of the Whitby Public Library's central branch at 405 Dundas. St. W.
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