Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Master Mason certificate issued to Sidney Hayden
1832-01-15
Freemasons. Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70 (Athens, Pa.); Wright, Charles Cushing, 1796-1857; Whitney, William B.
USA: Pennsylvania, Athens
Paper with wax seal
8" x 13"; 21 x 34 cm.; 1 item (1 page)
Museum Purchase
A78/018/001

A Master Mason certificate issued by Rural Amity Lodge, No. 7 (Athens, Pa.) to Sidney Hayden. Dated January 15, 1832. The artwork includes depictions of the Eye of Providence, two aproned Masons (one standing on a winged hourglass while the other stands on an ark), the symbol of Charity (a female), and scales (the symbol of justice). The certificate design was created by Charles Cushing Wright in Homer, New York, circa 1816.

Signed and Sealed: Masonic Certificates, corridor, part one, 2017 Master Mason Certificate, 1832 Issued to Sidney Hayden (1813-1890), Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, Athens, Pennsylvania Engraved by Charles Cushing Wright (1796-1854), Homer, New York Sold by William B. Whitney, Homer, New York Museum Purchase, A78/018/001 A young engraver, Charles Cushing Wright, designed this certificate sometime before 1818. He also crafted designs for engraved Masonic aprons around the same time. He left blanks in the certificate text where a lodge secretary could fill in the recipient’s degree, the lodge name, its number and location. With this flexibility, Wright could sell his certificate to different lodges. Several years after Wright made this certificate, officers of a Pennsylvania lodge filled it out for newly-minted Master Mason Sidney Hayden.