PLEASE CONTACT US FOR A FULL DESCRIPTION. In 1897 W. S. Hardwood observed that more than one in four adult men belonged to at least one of the nation’s 70,000 fraternal lodges, whose total population was estimated at 5.5 million members. Among these were the Oddfellows (810,000), the Freemasons (750,000), the Knights of Pythias (475,000), and hundreds of smaller organizations (several represented in this collection). Not all of these produced printed literature, but of those who did, the survival rate is generally exceptionally poor. Little attempt seems to have been made to collect copies in local institutions, much less to obey the Library of Congress deposit law enacted in 1870. Fraternal organizations including the Ku Klux Klan and the Order of St. Hubertus (with whom Justice Scalia famously chose to spend his dying moments) have persisted in American culture, and according to some accounts their memberships may be on the rise. For a social phenomenon which swept up so many millions of 19th century Americans in its wake, the printed literature of fraternal organizations is very poorly represented in public institutional collections. It is hoped that by bringing together a small selection of this literature we may encourage its further collection and study. This selection comprises 35 works printed from 1830-1877, concerned with five different organizations’ activities, and published in 14 different states. They bear imprints from Abington (MA), Albany, Allentown (PA), Bath (ME), Bordentown (PA), Boston, Fredonia (NY), Haverhill (MA), Indiana (PA), Ithaca, Lancaster (PA), Lancaster (OH), Marlton (NJ), Montpelier (VT), New York City, Norristown (PA), Philadelphia, Portland (OR), Reading (PA), Richmond (VA), Romeo (MI), San Francisco, Springfield (IL), St. Antony (MN), and Wilmington (DE). 23 of the 35 works are wholly unrecorded in OCLC. For many fraternal organizations, internal information seems to have been closely guarded. Most of the present works lay out in detail the day-to-day workings of the Lodge: “all candidates for initiation must be free white males”; voting for candidates by way of white balls and black balls; fees, duties, and financial benefits (15 dollars for initiation, etc); penalties, trials, and funerary arrangements; and finally offences (“No member… [may] paint on his sign any emblem of the Order, or otherwise exhibit upon any upon the same, or have any printed or engraved upon his business card, or expose any in public place as a sign…”). Often appended at the end is a list of officers and members of the lodge – including any expelled or suspended members.