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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;bosko69, post: 10598110, member: 16283&quot;]Just got this response from the Director of Collections &amp; Exhibitions</p><p>at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum &amp; Library-</p><p>Thursday, July 31, 2025 Hilary Anderson Stelling wrote:</p><p><br /></p><p>&#039;&#039;What a great image!</p><p>From the headgear most of the men pictured appear to be members of Menelik Shrine (or Temple), Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (now often called AEAONMS). The name was popular for AEAONMS, so there appear to have been/are several Menelik Shrines. In the back row there is one man wearing a fez for a temple called “_amal”.&nbsp; I can’t make out all of the letters on that fez, unfortunately. There was a <a href="http://www.desertofca.org/history2.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.desertofca.org/history2.htm" rel="nofollow">Menelik No. 36 chartered in Oakland, California, in 1906</a> .</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dumas Club was new to me.&nbsp; From a quick look at some newspapers (newspapers.com), this name described a group associated with Black <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Pythias_of_North_America,_South_America,_Europe,_Asia,_Africa_and_Australia" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Pythias_of_North_America,_South_America,_Europe,_Asia,_Africa_and_Australia" rel="nofollow"> Knights of Pythias</a>, specifically for members of the uniform rank of that group (you can read some more about that aspect of the group <a href="https://african-american-fraternal-orders.org/fraternal-order/knights-of-pythias-of-north-america-south-america-europe-asia-africa-and-australia-order-of-calanthe/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://african-american-fraternal-orders.org/fraternal-order/knights-of-pythias-of-north-america-south-america-europe-asia-africa-and-australia-order-of-calanthe/" rel="nofollow"> here</a>). In the <u>1910s and 1920s there appear to have been Dumas Clubs related to Knights of Pythias in different parts of the country (you came across Oakland and Seattle, I found notices of clubs in St. Louis and Indianapolis)</u>. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; It is <u>possible that membership of a AEAONMS Menelik Shrine and Black K of P overlapped</u>, so it is possible that the inscription on the back of the image refers to the men in the image, but some supporting evidence would be needed to solidify that idea. <u>Another possibility is that someone misidentified the affiliation of the men in the photograph. </u></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; Speculating, <u>I wonder if the image may have been taken to commemorating a new building or location</u>. The number of men in the picture suggests a group of officers or a committee, <u>but I don’t see any jewels of office, etc. </u></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Thanks for sharing this great image—if you are ever thinking of donating it to a museum, we would love to hear about it!</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; All the best,Hilary&#039;&#039;</p><p><br /></p><p>More to investigate ! Any input [USER=1476]@Debora[/USER] and any others ?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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