Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Large Gavel called "Little Thump"
2000
Maker not marked
USA: Massachusetts
Wood, brass
overall: overall: 9-1/2"h x 15-1/2"w x 43"long
Loaned by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts
GL2004.1287

a: Large brown wooden gavel; head and handle turned on lathe. b: Brass plaque reads: "LITTLE THUMP / Presented to / Grand Lodge April 25, 2000 / By the members of / Joel H. Prouty Lodge." c-g: five brass screws for plaque

In April of 2000, members of Joel H. Prouty Lodge presented this oversized gavel, known as “Little Thump,” to Fred Bauer, the Grand Master of Massachusetts, at the rededication of their lodge building in Auburn, Massachusetts. In Masonic ritual the gavel, modeled on a stonemason’s hammer, reminds members to divest their hearts of vice. In the hands of a lodge Master or Grand Master, a gavel represents his authority as leader of a lodge.