Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Moses Thomas (1767-1856)
1855
Maker not marked
USA: Massachusetts
Daguerreotype in case; glass, metal, wood, leather, cloth
a: (open flat) 9-1/8"h x 14-1/4"w x 1/2"d; b: 9"h x 7-1/4"w x 3/4"d
Loaned by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts
GL2004.2445a-b

a: Full-plate daguerreotype showing seated elderly man with short white hair facing proper right, wearing formal dark suit with white shirt, upturned collar, and bowtie. Man indentified as 88 year-old Moses Thomas, a Mason living in New Bedford, MA. b: Navy blue pressed card daguerreotype case with burgundy colored velvet lining and copper colored card oval mat framing daguerreotype behind glass.

A member sent this daguerreotype, a “correct likeness of Brother Moses Thomas,” to add to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts’ growing “gallery of Historical Portraits.” The donor felt as though, in over sixty years as a Freemason, Thomas had exemplified the “social and private virtues” of the fraternity. Thomas’s son acknowledged the tribute and offered, by letter, “many thanks for the gleam of joy & many pleasant reminiscences you have called up [in] the mind of my aged & honored Father….” For further information, see Newell, Aimee, et.al., "Curiosities of the Craft: Treasures from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts Collection," 2013, p. 56-57.