The Mask, Suit, and Muscle of Fraternal Societies: Lessons from Legacy Fraternal Orders
Clossington’s 2026 National Conference Speech
For those of you who have not heard of me, I go by Clossington online. I am a Founding member of OGC Central Committee and the Regional Liaison for the Mid-Atlantic chapters. I run the OGC Telegram channel, I occasionally contribute to the OGC Substack, and I run my own YouTube channel.
I have interests in model shipbuilding, structural engineering, and America’s sordid history of clandestine land pirate filibusters, privateers, and, most relevant to my talk, secret societies.
I am here today to discuss America’s proud history of fraternalism, persuade you gentlemen to join legacy fraternal orders, and to use case studies from America’s history of fraternalism to derive lessons on how to manage and grow your Old Glory Club chapters while avoiding pitfalls that suffocate legacy fraternal societies. Since this annual Old Glory Club National Conference is quickly becoming a Leadership Summit, I imagine that most of you will benefit from a less theoretical and more applied speech on how to run your Chapters.
Modern-day fraternal societies can trace their lineage to early medieval guilds in Western Europe whose origins can be further traced to Ancient Roman collegium, Germanic bands, and Greco-Roman mystery cults.
The Birth of Civil Society
Early medieval guilds were somewhat different from the more formalized late medieval trade guilds. They were established with a founding charter that constrained the scope of the organization to some particular goal within a designated geographical area, had a hierarchical officer structure, and initiated new members with the swearing of oaths. There were three types of early medieval guilds. Protection Guilds were voluntary policing organizations. Religious Guilds were organizations for clergy and laymen with the purpose of organizing prayer groups, church charity, and feast days, and also maintaining church properties. The third type of guild, and most relevant to this speech, are Social Guilds. Social Guilds were glorified drinking clubs that typically had social security benefits such as providing life insurance, fire insurance, and legal funds. They were often opposed by wives because hazing could get a little rough, and husbands would rather drink with their guild friends than spend time at home. Very little has changed.
Western Europe urbanized from the 13th century to the 18th century, resulting in single-occupation guilds growing in influence, wealth, and structural complexity. Think of late medieval guilds as a mixture of trade unions and Chambers of Commerce that were granted a monopoly on a particular trade in a particular region for the purpose of collectively bargaining for worker wages, maintaining quality control for products, and stabilizing supply and demand for products. Usually, membership in these guilds had three tiers. An apprentice had to pay a master to train him, experienced apprentices capable of working without the direct supervision became a journeyman or bachelor, and then, after the bachelor produced a masterpiece and demonstrated his competence in front of the masters, he became a master of the guild. These bachelor’s and master’s degrees are where our modern-day university degrees come from.
The early modern era saw the rise of Civil Society as a distinct social realm out of the advent of the Printing Press, the Protestant Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and increasing flows of information, whether scientific, financial, religious, philosophical, or social. Civil Societies are voluntary associations in which individuals can collectively discuss and pursue goals in the interests of the group. Civil societies are not for-profit, private-sector business ventures, nor are they public government institutions. These early civil society institutions could be scientifically motivated, volunteer civic organizations, or fraternal social clubs.
The Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, or Freemasons, are important to the history of fraternalism because they historically mark that shift from operative guilds to speculative fraternal societies; they are the largest, oldest, and most well documented fraternal society in world history; and they are the template by which all modern-day fraternal organizations are modeled and legally regulated in the United States. In the Scottish Renaissance court of King James IV, construction contractors who were organized as loose stone mason guilds were consolidated under Master of Works William Schaw into a formal structure and contracting system for the purpose of building beautiful cathedrals. Schaw and his contemporaries dabbled in both the operative construction of stone structures as well as the speculative philosophical and natural science of civil society debates as to what the idealized forms of beautiful public works should be. These were Renaissance Men who wanted to be involved both in societies promoting the useful arts and sciences and also in the local and public application of those arts and sciences, so they attended these early Masonic guild lodge meetings and converted the old and informal guild into a modern and hierarchical civil society. In 1666, the Great Fire of London destroyed significant portions of the city. Naturally, many Scottish masons migrated to London to pick up construction contracts. They formed four lodges that quickly caught the attention of local English aristocrats who found that the civil society melding of public works organizing, philosophical debate, and profitable discussions about financial markets held in popular taverns was both fun and useful. By 1717, these four lodges created the Premier Grand Lodge of England with a formal structure recognizing regular lodges and governing the business of maintaining lodges.
What matters most to the history of fraternalism is the Masonic model which became the basis for almost all 19th-century fraternities. Prospective members were investigated by Committees of Inquiry to verify the initiate’s good character, lodges would vote on the admittance of the new member with one “no” vote blackballing the initiate, there were formal ritual initiatory degrees before receiving full membership, lodges were expected to have uniform rituals and regalia, lodge members in good standing could expect to be received with fellowship by members of other lodges, and the lodges derived their recognition from a grand lodge. Whether the lodges are called councils, castles, chapters, or even Outhouses in the case of the Hillbilly Rite of Freemasonry, this is the basic formula for a fraternal society that is enshrined in legal code.
A Concise History of American Fraternalism
The Masonic model of fraternal organization immigrated with the English to their Colonies. The man whose career embodied that of the Colonial civil society striver was Benjamin Franklin, whose illustrious legacy marks him as perhaps the most gregarious of all of the Founding Fathers. At the age of 17, Franklin ran away from his home in Boston, establishing himself in Philadelphia. In 1727, when he was 21, he started his first fraternal society, the Leather Apron Club, also known as the Junto Society. The purpose of the Leather Apron Club was to bring together skilled craftsmen of the city every Friday night at a local tavern to set up public utility services, discuss local politics, and network. Out of this society, Junto members pooled their books and some money together to found America’s first subscription public library. The Junto was part business Rotary Club, part social network. Franklin would go on to either found, lead, or be a member of virtually every major Colonial Pennsylvanian voluntary society. Franklin was the third Masonic Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. He founded America’s first volunteer firefighting company, founded a philosophical society, founded the University of Pennsylvania, was a fellow of the Royal Society, tried to form a Colonial militia against the wishes of the Quakers, and was a representative in the Pennsylvania State Assembly.
The great men of the early American Colonies were fraternal leaders of men. In a frontier republic, you had to be a team player or perish. If you did not serve your militia well, your family would be ravaged in Indian raids. There were no social services, so you had better make friends in case of emergencies. There was no social media; to get any sort of information, you had to talk to people in taverns. Fraternalism was pragmatic, as formal government and private structures did not exist to provide these services.
Early American fraternities created a vast social fabric for men to explore, but they exploded in scale and size vastly beyond their small town tavern origins. Between the Civil War and the Great Depression, there was an era referred to as the Golden Age of Fraternalism. Easy transportation from city to city and the advent of telecommunications allowed for fraternal societies to be organized with uniformity at mass scale. According to the book Secret Societies in America: Foundational Studies in Fraternalism by William Moore:
In 1897, W.S. Harwood, writing in the North American Review, dubbed the post-bellum period the Golden Age of Fraternalism. He noted that fraternal organizations, then commonly called secret societies, claimed 5.5 million members while the total U.S. adult population was approximately 19 million. At the time, the five largest fraternal groups Freemasons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and Knights of the Maccabees had a combined membership of more than 2.5 million. Albert C. Stevens, compiler of the invaluable Cyclopedia of Fraternities, estimated that 40 percent of all adult males held membership in at least one fraternal order.
One of the most accessible books on the history of American fraternalism is For the Common Good? by Jason Kaufman. My interest in this book was first piqued when I read a review from the Economic History Association:
Dissenting from Alexis de Tocqueville and Robert Putnam, Kaufman examines the dark side of American voluntary associations. He indicts them for exacerbating racial and ethnic divisiveness, retarding the welfare state, nurturing a unique American “love affair with guns” (p. 31), fueling “libertarian paranoia and mutual distrust” (p. 9), and even for a causative role in Prohibition.
Just as the early guilds could be categorized as protective, religious, and social, fraternal societies formed in the mold of these old guilds. In the early Colonies, virtually every man from 16 to 60 was required to muster for his Colony’s militia for drilling and training. As Indian raids and insurgencies became less common, volunteer drill companies were formed, the new protection guilds. They had monthly or quarterly drilling with shooting in the morning, marching in the afternoon, and drinking with the fellas at night. Every city had dozens of drill companies, with each company usually having a distinct ethnic character. These companies were usually activated whenever there were riots, fires, or other forms of civil unrest.
The religious guilds of old became modern-day social reform societies. These can be further separated into activist and charitable religious societies. Activist societies included the Anti-Slavery, Temperance, and Women’s Suffrage Societies. Charitable religious societies included the American Bible Society and the YMCA.
The social guilds of old and social fraternities of the late 19th century are pretty similar. Elks, Moose, Eagles, a fraternity for every animal. There were also ethnically specific fraternal societies for new immigrants, like the Ancient Order of Hibernians for the Irish. Ethnically segregated drill companies and fraternal societies contributed to urban ethnic conflict and created self-governing immigrant enclaves in American cities. Dues for social fraternities usually provided members with benefits such as life insurance, aid to widows and orphans, unemployment insurance, and subsidized hospital bills. Dues were high, sometimes as high as a quarter of a working man’s pay, but the benefits were tangible enough to make high dues worthwhile.
The Golden Age of Fraternalism eventually waned. Many fraternal societies invested unsustainably large amounts of money into massive buildings. The Great Depression made mutual aid payouts, such as to widows, orphans, and the unemployed, unsustainable. The introduction of Social Security also made the function of fraternal societies for life insurance redundant. By the 1950s, most of the large fraternal societies slashed their benefits but also lowered their dues to increased membership. Additionally, membership standards were lowered, old ritual work was abbreviated, and the amount of time it took to initiate new members was condensed. This staved off membership decline for a decade or two, at least on paper, but then the greying out process set in. The Boomers at legacy fraternal societies like to blame mass media entertainment for why young people don’t join anymore, saying that people would rather watch TV than come to lodge. There is some truth to it, but that isn’t why legacy fraternal societies are dying.
The Dos and Don’ts of Running a Fraternal Society
Now that we have gone over the general trajectory of fraternal societies, I carve out distinctions within the DNA of fraternal societies and dissect how flaws can threaten up-and-coming fraternities like the OGC.
The outside facing mission statement of a fraternal society is its Mask. It is the stated reason for the organization’s existence, as well as the club’s public-facing aesthetic. Most organizations justify their existence with either general philanthropy, donating to a bunch of small local causes, or a specific philanthropic cause like a hospital or orphanage. These causes are what the fraternity puts on its résumé. The Mask is what should make up the majority of the organization’s public messaging.
The Suit is the actual work of hosting chapter meetings, initiating new members, setting up committees, and the business of running the organization. The Suit should be as lean as it needs to be. There is a balance every fraternity has to manage. If club meetings are too clinical, members lose interest. On the other hand, making the business of running the organization “quick” and “fun” makes it more tolerable, but too much fun undermines the seriousness of the work being done.
The Muscle of fraternal societies is the secret engine behind the Mask and the Suit. The muscle is the meetups, networking, and camaraderie of being a part of the organization. Without a Mask and a Suit, all you have is a naked dude. Please cover yourselves. Whenever you go to an OGC meetup, telling your wife that you are going out drinking with the guys is not usually a sufficient alibi. Cloaking your Chapter with a Mask of philanthropy or civic engagement relieves doubts about the integrity and seriousness of your fraternal activities. The Mask is the organization’s modus operandi, and the Suit binds the organization together, but the fellowship that derives from the Mask and Suit sustains the muscles needed to go out and just do things. The social byproduct of the organization usually ends up being the real reason why most members are maintained. None of us would be here if we did not enjoy each other’s company. However, the Muscle should never overshadow the Mask in terms of primacy of purpose. Social clubs without a direction usually lack seriousness and die.
Problems Fraternities Have Maintaining Their Masks:
Provide tangible benefits and opportunities for your members. Without a philanthropic mission, fraternal societies are just social clubs. Without high-agency individuals with causes and work for guys to do, the organization will remain a mere social club. Each chapter has its own network of guys. Do something with them. All chapters start out as five guys meeting up at a bar. Start small, picking up trash at parks or cleaning cemetery headstones or doing landscaping work for elderly relatives of chapter members. Aim high, run for office, oppose or support a bill, anything to turn your club into a society within the bounds of your nonprofit legal status. Legacy organizations lose their mission because old men lack the vitality to start new projects. On the other hand, projects and initiatives can become overtaxed, and cuts to these initiatives can implode the organization. The simple fact is that most people in the Golden Age of Fraternalism wanted to join for the social benefits, and as soon as the social benefits were gone, most serious guys left. If your chapter sets up membership benefit systems, make sure that they are sustainable, because if they are not, your Mask will crack.
One issue that some legacy fraternities have is that they do not publicize their organization. I once tried to find a legacy fraternity, but its website was several years out of date with wrong contact information, and I had to look up its tax status just to verify that it was still around. The role of OGC chapter Secretaries as officers is indispensable. Ensure that Secretaries are diligent in responding to correspondence. I would also say that most legacy fraternities have little to no social media presence, and when they do, it is almost always extremely sanitized. This benefits legacy fraternities by ensuring that only people in the know are aware of their existence, and it wards off anti-social personalities from joining and avoids unwanted attention on social media. OGC is different because it was birthed on social media. Our main recruitment tools are Twitter, YouTube, and Substack. No legacy fraternal organization has a predominantly online recruiting model. All I would ask is that chapters tread carefully and present as much of a benevolent public Mask as possible. Social media posts can attract, recruit, and maintain new members, but posts can also repel and cause division. Most legacy fraternities choose to be minimalist, but we are unique and have to figure out how to thread the needle for our new fraternal model.
Problems Fraternities Have Maintaining Their Suits:
Legacy fraternities are often entombed by their own ritual and proceduralism. Most guys will come to lodge for the meal and to attend meetings, and nothing more. New guys will often get initiated into these old men’s clubs, attend a few boring monthly meetings, and then never be seen from again because they see that the organization is an empty fossil whose only purpose is to tread water. Like I said earlier, the business of running the organization should be lean, engaging, and serious, but it should be a minimal part of the overall experience for regular members.
Avoid unnecessary expenditures, especially ones that require costly future payments. The Masons took over 20 years of exponential growth to move out of taverns and into purpose-built lodge buildings. Overextension from property accumulations is a generational problem whose bill can come due for your generation. Legacy fraternities may have large trusts from years of dues, bequeathments, and investments, but these resources can easily be wiped out by a roof collapse, a burst pipe, or a politically motivated arsonist. Trusts can be overburdened, natural disasters can happen, and revenue from dues can decline, causing the organization to become insolvent. Buying real estate is prestigious, but it is an expensive liability.
Do not debase the integrity of the organization, or your members will not be retained. Quick boosts in new members from lowering membership standards will most certainly increase membership, but it will make the organization less serious. As a case study, the Masonic Antients and Moderns tried out the quality-versus-quantity recruitment methods twice, once in the 18th century and from the 1950s to today. The Moderns created one-day full membership initiations, abbreviated meetings, cut out officer installation ceremonies, and lowered their dress codes. They increased membership, but those members never actually stayed members for very long. The Antients, on the other hand, made their lodges more exclusive, made dues more expensive, and focused on research projects and having serious, faithful rituals. The Antients ended up having much smaller lodges, but their members often stay for their whole lives. The Odd Fellows, often called the poor man’s Masons, are another case study. Their dues are significantly lower, their club benefits are scarce, their attire standards are low, and they are much less exclusive. In the late 19th century, Odd Fellow membership eclipsed that of the Masons, but in the 20th and 21st centuries, their membership has declined much more significantly than that of the Masons. Choose quality over quantity every time.
Lastly, Problems Fraternities Have Maintaining Their Muscle:
In his book Why Men Hate Going to Church, David Murrow identified three main reasons. The first is unserious, liberal, and feminine church services. The second is that the design of churches can be structurally feminine with soft aesthetics. I do not think we have these two problems. The third is that men do not have anything to do. Female churchgoers have bake sales and childcare services, but men have nothing to do. What helps retain men is to give them tasks that they can feel proud of. Fixing lighting, working on electronic and sound systems, and doing handyman work maintaining the church. Fraternities that delegate tasks to new members will keep those members. These tasks could be useful for the business of running the organization or, even better, relate to the Mask. Giving guys something productive to do gives members a stake in the club and also opens them up to starting their own projects and initiatives. David Murrow also noted that church societies that did not charge at least a nominal $10 fee for admission imploded. He cited his involvement with the Promise Keepers. Men attach value to the organizations that they give money to. If chapter members do not give to the organizations they want to be a part of, they do not expect anything to come out of the organization.
Muscle behind the Mask and Suit works best when recruited members are high-agency individuals, self-starters, and organizers capable of running or starting new projects. High-status individuals, potentially elected politicians, businessmen, community leaders, and online personalities, should be sought out and put in positions of power within the organization. This signals to members and potential recruits that the organization is high-status and has recognized social value. This is how legacy fraternities rose in prominence, and the loss of young high-agency and high-status members has contributed to their decline.
Avoid litigation and bad publicity at all costs; fraternities rarely make local news for charity work, but make national headlines for scandals. In 2008, the Royal Order of Jesters, a Masonic Shriners organization, was lambasted because three members were caught transporting prostitutes across state lines for a club party. It should go without saying: “No prostitutes or e-girls at OGC functions.” That Jesters controversy takes up more space on Wikipedia than its museum and membership tabs combined. The Shriners run an $8 billion pediatric hospital network, but one of the first things that still comes up on a Google search is their prostitution scandal. Avoid publicly embarrassing legal debacles at all costs, and make sure that the members of your chapters are men of good character.
There are other pitfalls that fraternal societies can fall into, and I will gladly elaborate during my Q&A session, but first I want to advocate for you to join legacy fraternal societies.
Why Join Legacy Fraternities?
Legacy fraternities still have real-life social networks, huge endowments and trusts, and real estate properties. These large assets are operated by old men with few heirs. Often if you join these organizations, you will be accelerated to leadership positions quickly because they are starved for young blood. There is honor and prestige to be found in these societies. They are often ingrained in America’s founding mythos and are already ingratiated with your community’s businesses and charitable networks. Genuine philanthropy is still possible, but old men are neither capable nor motivated enough to wield their own resources to their full potential.
I believe that many of these organizations can be turned around under new and vital leadership. The Old Guard needs to be culled, membership needs to become more exclusive, and the seriousness of the mission statements for these societies needs to be restored. At the same time, we are doing something new and exciting here at the Old Glory Club. We are growing exponentially, we are doing more with our chapters, and if we learn from the past, we can create a future that our children can be proud to inherit. Thank you.