Gem City Lodge No. 357 IOOF Library

08/18/2026

Authors, archivists, historians and bibliophiles have launched an online war against tech giants and artificial intelligence developers after an increasing mountain of evidence shows they’re buying rare and antique books en masse and feeding them to large language models—only to slice off their spines and destroy the original print copies in the process.
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/08/17/ai-companies-are-buying-and-destroying-antique-books-heres-why/?utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ForbesMainFB
Photo: Getty Images

06/03/2026

Our librarian, the Anonymous Builder, is starting his own line of fountain pen or brush ready premium inks all hand made to order!

This is the base ink. Ingredients and color can be customized to your or your lodge’s liking. Just message us here for details and pricing, a portion of the proceeds of every batch goes to charities and/or local lodges.

This and all my inks are 100% fountain pen safe.

Ink pics are from the Builder’s own tests.

Watch this space for our Lodge 357 special batch coming soon!

05/31/2026

Hello Brothers and Sisters! Hope your weekend is a good one!

I revised the meeting’s talk for a week from now. It’s a special one on my personal favorite Odd Fellow: Sir Charlie Chaplin and the lit globe. As librarian and head educational officer for Odd Fellows Lodge Gem City 357, I always pair a relevant book from our library with a relevant symbol of our Order and its virtues.

This all becomes a 15 minute or so long discussion on the material.

Brothers and Sisters, if you get a chance before next Sunday, please do watch this 5 minute or so clip from Chaplin’s most famous talking picture: 1939’s “The Great Dictator” where he lambasts the living hell out of Hi**er. All before the US was even in the war.

This is, in my opinion as a scholar of film, one of the finest speeches ever recorded. And it really gets into the lit globe’s symbolism which we’ll get into Sunday.

Enjoy the clip brothers and sisters! It always gives me chills. And if you happen to be in the Quincy, IL area next Sunday, join us for our meeting.

Brother Wess

• Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/TheChaplinFilms• Get it on iTunes: http://bit.ly/iTunesGreatDictatorSpeech• "We think too much and feel too little....

05/13/2026

Our librarian, the Anonymous Builder, is starting his own line of fountain pen or brush ready premium inks all hand made to order!

This is the base ink. Ingredients and color can be customized to your or your lodge’s liking. Just message us here for details and pricing, a portion of the proceeds of every batch goes to charities and/or local lodges.

This and all my inks are 100% fountain pen safe.

Ink pics are from the Builder’s own tests.

Watch this space for our Lodge 357 special batch coming soon!

03/03/2026

I would like to publicly thank the many members of our community who showed up in support of my cousin Justin Haubrich’s widow and her children at the third annual Wh***ey Night, presented by the Gem City Odd Fellows, on February 28th at Dick Brothers Brewery. In moments of great loss, it is easy ...

02/25/2026

Great job, Brothers! Wh***ey Night is this Saturday!

There's still time to get your tickets for Saturday night's Oddfellows Wh***ey Night Fundraiser at Dick Bros. You can get them at https://gemcityoddfellow.or...