Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Black and white photograph of New England Order of Protection lodge degree staff. Photo shows three rows of men and women in costume. Back row shows four women in gowns and sashes wearing graduation caps. A man in a tuxedo stands at the center. The second row shows a man on each end in a uniform and a hat with a finial. The man at right wears a badge on his chest. Between the men are three women wearing robes. The third (front) row shows six seated figures (three men and three women). All wear costumes; two of the women wear tiaras. Four of the six wear badges (jewels of office?). The man at right holds a baton. Four of the figures hold a banner. Three banners have a word: "Equity," "Benevolence," and "Charity." The fourth banner has a six-point star with intertwined initials in the center. In white across the bottom is "Degree Staff Banner Lodge N.E.O.P. - 1916."

The New England Order of Protection was founded in 1887 as a mutual benefit society. In the early 1940s it merged with the Ancient Order of United Workmen in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In 1968 the Supreme Lodge, NEOP, merged with the Woodmen of the World.