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Recent Acquisitions at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library
by Hilary Anderson Stelling, Director of Collections and Exhibitions Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library
Every month, the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library adds new objects to its collection. The goal is to expand the ways both we and our audience can explore and talk about the history of Freemasonry and fraternalism in the United States. Additions to the collection through purchase as well as generous gifts from donors help visitors, researchers, and museum supporters connect with the past and bring new stories to light. Here are some highlights of new acquisitions.
The Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library recently purchased a group of material that originally belonged to members of the Morse family of Philadelphia. George W. Morse signed this certificate issued by Concordia Lodge No. 67 in 1805. Morse, who earned his living as a ship’s captain, also owned this attractive apron embroidered with Masonic symbols rendered in colorful silk thread. At the center of the square and compasses on the apron is the number of his lodge, 67. Records at the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania note that Morse took his degrees at the lodge in 1800 and demitted in 1812.
Among our notable recent acquisitions, and also related to Freemasonry in Philadelphia, is an intriguing mark medal. Along with the name of its owner, Conrad Poshardt, this keystoneshaped badge was inscribed by the craftsman who engraved it, John Bower. In addition to Poshardt’s name and his personally chosen mark–a group of Masonic symbols contained within the letters HTWSSTKS–this medal bears the name of the owner’s lodge, “Herman’s Lodge N. 125,” and a date, “Feby 5812” (1812). The engraver signed the other side of the medal “Br. J. Bower, Sculp.” on the lower edge. In adding “Br.,” an abbreviation of the word Brother, and “Sculp.,” meaning engraved by, to his signature, Bower identified himself as a Freemason who ornamented this work. J. Bower is likely John Bower who took his degrees at Lodge No. 72 in Philadelphia in the first half of 1811, according to records at the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
In December of 1859, twelve men applied to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for permission to form Hammett Lodge in East Boston. After the Grand Lodge granted Hammett Lodge a charter in 1860, Elisha Cleveland served as the lodge’s first Master. To commemorate his service to the lodge, Cleveland’s Brethren presented him this Past Master’s jewel, inscribed with the message that it was given “by his friends, E. Boston, Apr. 6, 1860.” The lodge also gave Cleveland’s wife, Mary Ann Cleveland, a token of their esteem. This silver-plated cake basket bears engraving noting that it was given to her “by the members of Hammett Lodge of Free Masons” in
1861. Sometime after he received his jewel, Cleveland visited a photographer a few blocks from his home. In dressing for his appointment at the studio, Cleveland donned street clothes and pinned the jewel to his shirt. This portrait documents how Cleveland wore his Past Master’s jewel and suggests the pride he may have felt in wearing it.
Another recent acquisition is this impressive desk. Over six feet tall at its highest point, the largest portion of this desk–a generous recent gift to the collection–is a glass-fronted cabinet for books. The elaborate pediment on the desk’s cornice offers a nod to the Renaissance Revival style popular in the United States in the 1860s and 1870s. At the center of the pediment are an inlaid square, compasses, and the letter G–a combination of Masonic symbols found on lodge buildings, in lodge rooms, and on many objects related to the Fraternity. The desk’s association with Freemasonry is clear, but it also has secrets. Behind and within several of its drawers and cubbies are multiple hidden drawers and secret compartments. Constructed, in part, of southern beech, this desk came to the museum with a history of having been used in Arkansas, and later, in Utica, New York.
Crafted by George M. Silsbee of Leadville, Colorado, this model features emblems taken from the first three degrees of Freemasonry and from Royal Arch Freemasonry. Each level of this three-dimensional model is rich with Masonic symbols shaped from stone, metal, wood, and painted plaster. On the keystone at the top of the model is the mnemonic associated with the Mark Master degree. What is likely Silsbee’s own mark–a square and compasses over a shield decorated with blue dots
and red strips, representing the colors and symbols of the American flag–is at the center of the circle. In creating this model, Silsbee, who worked as a miner and engineer while living in Colorado, demonstrated his artistic skills and his knowledge of Freemasonry. He had become a Mason in Wisconsin, at Kenosha Lodge, No. 47, in 1863. When he became familiar with Royal Arch Masonry and where he took the Mark degree is not known.
In the late 1800s, White’s Pottery (also called Central New York Pottery) of Utica, New York, created this substantial stoneware vessel. The words “Masonic Fair” highlighted in cobalt blue are impressed in three places within shieldshaped cartouches on the sides of the object. At first glance, this large vessel–over a foot and a half wide–looks like a punch bowl. It is, instead, a root beer cooler, likely part of a set that once included coordinating mugs. The mold for this vessel was first used to create a design marketed by a druggist and entrepreneur named Charles Ellis Bardwell, marked “Bardwell’s Root Beer.” Bardwell sold his “Unparalleled Root Beer” recipe, mugs, and coolers to fellow druggists for use at their fountain counters. A member of Mount Holyoke Lodge in South Hadley Falls, Massachusetts, Bardwell may have offered coolers customized with the words “Masonic Fair” to be used either to serve refreshments or to be offered as prizes at fundraisers for Masonic organizations.
This relatively modern Masonic apron was used by a District Deputy Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. The “1st Mas. Dist.” delineated in metal thread on the flap of the apron is the first Masonic District of Pennsylvania which is comprised of Prince Hall lodges that meet in Philadelphia. This apron and related purchases were added to the collection to help us better tell the story of twentieth-century Freemasonry in the United States.
