digital system focused primarily on the current, active membership, though, and the card catalogue has remained in use for historical inquiries. Plans to digitize the card catalog and integrate it with the new electronic database are probably as old as the original database, itself. However, the cost in both dollars and man hours to take on such a large project has always been an issue, until now. Scanning technology has improved over the last decade, which now enables us to take
on more digitization projects “in house” at the Grand Lodge office. That said, it is still a time-consuming and human directed endeavor. Due to their format, cards must be individually scanned and processed. Cards originally filled using a typewriter can be further processed through Optical Character Recognition software (OCR) to become keyword searchable, but the majority of the card catalog was filled out by hand, and OCR programs cannot accurately transcribe handwriting. So, the information on these cards must be hand typed into the file for it to become searchable.
Albert Pike
Carl Claudy
Andrew Jackson
Elliott Woods
Benjamin B. French
Harding GL
As of this article, we’ve digitized membership cards A through L, with plans to complete the project’s first phase by the end of this year. When complete, the digital card catalog will be a new resource for D.C. Masons and researchers to quickly identify former members and uncover our Masonic history. Plans are currently in the works to determine the best way to share this interesting and valuable resource. Stay tuned for more updates and milestones! Until then, here are a few gems from the old card catalogue:
ISSUE 2, 2021 THE VOICE OF FREEMASONRY | 25
