Episode 177: The Mysterious and The Benevolent - Those Secretive Men's Organizations

Louisiana Insider

Secretive Men’s organizations –º such as the Free Masons, Elks, Odd Fellows and many more – did not originate just for the sake of privacy. In many cases they had a social purposes such as providing health and security benefits for themselves at a time when neither government nor private enterprise provided much of either. Some groups were also a source of business and social connections.

Jari Honora, an historian and genealogist who curated an exhibit for the Historic New Orleans Collection entitled Mystery and Benevolence: Masonic and Odd Fellows Folk Art, joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with producer Kelly Massicot, to discuss the organizations, which had a strong presence in New Orleans as well as globally.

In New Orleans and Mobile the structure of the groups even had an influence on Carnival krewes. The groups also left a strong architectural presence either through their lodges; office buildings and memorial sites. The interview offers a rare opportunity to peer inside the world of secrecy.