Robert Archer Woods (1861-1959); photo courtesy Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives

Robert Archer Woods (1861-1959), a lawyer, businessman and politician from Princeton, Indiana, was described upon his death in 1959 as "...beloved patriarch of Indiana Masonry." Having spent 74 years in service to the various bodies of that organization, Woods held nearly every Masonic office and honorary position possible. In the course of his Masonic activities, Woods managed to collect an extensive library of more than 1200 Masonic books, periodicals and pamphlets. A graduate of Indiana University, he donated that collection to IU in 1944. When the Lilly Library opened in 1960, the University Libraries' Department of Special Collections (including the Woods materials) was merged with it. After fifty years of being held in Bloomington, the bulk of the Woods collection was transferred from the Lilly Library to IUPUI in 1995. The Woods Collection contains a variety of materials relating to both Indiana Masonry and to masonry in general. Ranging in subject from histories and popular literature to procedural handbooks and the proceedings of annual meetings, some of the items date to territorial days.