The neatness and completeness of documents dating back to 1844, preserved in the archives of St. James Lodge, are testimony to the sincerity and foresight of the officers and members who have preceded us in the Lodge. Yet, there was one document this writer looked for, but could not find — a history of the Lodge. The Sesquicentennial celebrations in 1994 provided ample motivation to undertake the project of compiling the history in narrative form.

The wealth of information contained in the documents in the Lodge Archives provided a wonderful insight into the membership and its activities in years long gone by. Most of the information for this book was collected from the archives of St. James Lodge. The stimulus generated on the second floor of the Lodge building, where the archives are located, extended to the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Library and the Hill Archives at Louisiana State University. Several books (listed in the "Selected Bibliography") on the early history of Baton Rouge and on Masonry in Louisiana were very useful.

All the hours spent in the archives of the Lodge, in the libraries and with books would have been fruitless after the first effort at putting it in writing, had it not been for the assistance of a dear friend, Mary Joseph, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English at Southern University, Baton Rouge. She spent many hours making some sense out of my rambling writing. Thank you, Dr. Joseph, for your painstaking efforts in seeing this through at the same time you were getting your own book ready for publication.

I hope that this humble attempt on this writer’s part will inspire some talented writer to do further research and expand this work. I must thank my good friend and brother, Calvin Lee Elliott, without whose tireless support, guidance and countless hours in the Archives, this work would not have been possible. The confidence that he inspired in me, the encouragement he provided, and the time he generously and graciously volunteered are testimonials to the Masonic teachings of Brotherly Love, Relief, Truth and the Universality of the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God. I am privileged to dedicate this effort to those very teachings.

Naresh Sharma, Past Master.