Topics

Explore articles by subject, including Queens history, New York City history, Freemasonry, symbolism, architecture, local institutions, and fraternal traditions.


This page is designed as a guide to the major areas of research and writing featured on BreteMurphy.com. As the site grows, each section will continue to expand with new articles, series, and resources.


Queens History

Queens is a borough of remarkable depth, shaped by neighborhoods, immigration, industry, religion, architecture, and civic change. This section explores local history through places, people, institutions, and stories that help define the borough’s past.

New York City History

New York City’s history is layered, restless, and expansive. This section features writing on the wider city, placing local stories in broader historical context and exploring the institutions, figures, and developments that shaped urban life.

Queens Freemason History

Freemasonry has long been part of Queens civic and social history. This section is devoted to the lodges, members, records, buildings, and traditions that formed the Masonic life of the borough over time.

Notable Members

This section highlights notable Freemasons connected to Queens and New York City, with attention to biography, public life, local influence, and historical context.

Masonic Buildings in Queens

Buildings preserve memory in ways that records alone cannot. This section documents Masonic buildings and meeting places in Queens, with attention to architecture, institutional history, and the communities that gathered within them.

History of the Lodges of Queens

This section traces the development of lodges across Queens, exploring their origins, growth, membership, local role, and historical significance.

Masonic Symbols

Masonic symbols have carried layers of moral, philosophical, and historical meaning across generations. This section explores those symbols through interpretation, context, and careful reflection.

Masonic Education

This section is devoted to educational writing on Freemasonry, including historical subjects, symbolic themes, moral instruction, and broader questions of meaning, tradition, and practice.

Other Fraternal Orders

Beyond Freemasonry, other fraternal and initiatic orders have their own histories, teachings, structures, and customs. This section presents writing on related traditions from a historical and educational perspective.

Topic Links

  • Queens History
  • New York City History
  • Queens Freemason History
  • Notable Members
  • Masonic Buildings in Queens
  • History of the Lodges of Queens
  • Masonic Symbols
  • Masonic Education
  • Other Fraternal Orders