CD containing all articles scanned from The Builder magazine
by the late Bro. George Helmer
The Builder was a Masonic magazine published from 1915 through 1930. It was published by the National Masonic Research Society, based in Iowa. In the first issue, in January 1915, Joseph Fort Newton, the editor, mentioned that: “this movement has the official sanction and blessing of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, and is in fact an outgrowth of the labors of that Grand body in training its young men to be intelligent and capable Masons.”
Many of us feel The Builder was the best Masonic magazine ever published, as it included thousands of excellent articles on Masonic history, philosophy, biography, symbolism, etc. Those who have read copies of The Builder can attest to the fact that you find terrific articles on almost every page. The only problem is that copies of The Builder are difficult to find.
George Helmer, our Brother who recently passed away, often told me that he considered himself to be “the mad scanner.” He enjoyed scanning good Masonic articles and putting them on CD-ROMs. We talked about The Builder, and George decided to scan all the articles in all the issues of The Builder,” and gave a copy of that CD-ROM to the MLC (Masonic Leadership Center) for MLC to make available for two reasons: to spread the word about the hundreds or thousands of great articles in The Builder, and to help raise funds for MLC which can be used to continue the dream of Allen E. Roberts and George Helmer for more Masonic education.
MLC has now started making copies of the CD-ROM that George Helmer gave us, which I believe contains all, or just about all, of the articles that were ever printed in The Builder during its 16 years of existence. The CD-ROM is just as George Helmer gave it to us. In view of the expenses of the MLC, we are making this CD-ROM, which I believe contains all or just about all the articles ever printed in every issue of The Builder, for $49.95 (which includes postage). This can be a fitting way to remember George Helmer and his work, as well as Allen E. Robert’s dream for a Masonic Leadership Center that can continue to educate and train Masons and Masonic leaders.
The articles on this CD were scanned by Bro. Helmer in Microsoft Word format, for PC compatible computers. I have been told by others that these articles can be read on Mac computers, and using other word processing programs such as Word Perfect, but I am not sure of this.
If you would like to have one of the CD-ROMs of The Builder, please send a check for $49.95 (which includes postage), payable to “MLC” and mail it to:
MLC – Masonic Leadership Center
c/o Paul M. Bessel
3700 Marble Arch Way
Silver Spring MD 20906
paulb’at’bessel.org
I will do my best to fill all orders as quickly as possible, but please allow a few days for me to copy each CD-ROM and ship it to you.