2020 PSO Conference on Fraternalism, Social Capital, & Civil Society: Washington DC 6/5

UPDATED MARCH 6, 2020
The June 2020 PSO Conference on Fraternalism, Social Capital, and Civil Society has been postponed as of today out of caution over the coronavirus pandemic. While it's entirely possible any health risks will be over by June, organizers are forced to do this out of uncertainty over the potential scope of the spread of the virus for an event three months away. Please check with the conference website at the link above for information about future plans.

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Original post from 1/21/2020:

The June 2020 PSO Conference on Fraternalism, Social Capital, and Civil Society will be in Washington, DC at the historic (and recently restored) Quaker Meetinghouse on Florida Avenue NW on Saturday, June 5th.

The Policy Studies Organization is the longstanding brainchild of Brother Paul Rich, and that organization has a very broad range of topics in which it fosters research and discussion. Of greatest interest to Masons, the PSO sponsors an international academic conference about Freemasonry and fraternalism every year, alternating between the U.S. and France. 

The overall theme of this June's conference is 'Fraternal Art and Music,' but papers are not restricted to that topic. 

There is NO registration fee - the conference is free of charge. But be sure to register at the website so they can plan the venue arrangements.

The preliminary speaker's list is up online now, but there's still time to submit a paper for the conference. Here is the link for this year's Washington event: http://www.ipsonet.org/conferences/ritualconference-main/wcf2020program
So far, these are the presenters who have been accepted:

1. The Iconography of Mexican Freemasonry
Guillermo De Los Reyes, University of Houston

2. Saving Masonic Temples: The Crisis in Preservation
Paul Rich, Policy Studies Organization

3. The Role of Arts in French Freemasonry
Pierre Mollier, Grand Orient de France

4. Symbols, Images, Objects--Case Studies at the Intersection of Freemasonry and the Visual Arts: Book Presentation, Freemasonry and the Visual Arts from the Eighteenth Century Forward: Historical and Global Perspectives followed by a Round Table Discussion
Reva Wolf, State University of New York at New Paltz; and David Bjelajac, George Washington University

5. Fraternalism and the Fair: The History the National Masonic Fair and ExpositionsChris Ruli, Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, Free And Accepted Masons

6. Dance, Dance, Revolution: George Washington's Masonic Cave
Jason Williams

7. Nobles of the Mystic Shrine March: A Presentation on Masonic Music
Mark Dreisonstok, the Scottish Rite Journal

8. Publishing Fraternalism Roundtable
Brent Morris, Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction; and Steve McCall, Macoy Publishing

9. Two Nineteenth Century Australian Masonic WaltzesDavid Slater

10. Le Comte Alexandre Francois de Grasse
Joe Wages

This is the American alternative gathering to the next PSO conference in Paris which will be in 2021, in case you're filling in your calendar, planning a Europe trip, telling the wife you're just popping out to the wine shop and will be back in three or four days, or working on a paper of your own. Videos of past conferences are on linked sites. See http://www.ipsonet.org/conferences/ritualconference-main

And if you're looking to fill in your research library, past proceedings can be had in both print and Kindle. The journal of Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society is offered free online HERE, and back issues are also available. It is usually published twice a year, and a printed version and Kindle are also available through Amazon of from the Westphalia Press site. The papers generally come from the PSO's conferences in the U.S. or France, and there's usually a wide variety of topics you've likely never encountered before. They are well worth exploring.

(Photo by Jennifer Morris)