Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Masonic Past Master Apron
ca. 1964
The Masonic Supply Company
USA: Illinois, Bloomington
Ink on leather, silk, nylon
overall: 14-1/2"h x 17-3/4"w
Gift of Marilyn A. May
99.059.3

Masonic Past Master apron with square body and triangular flap; white leather with blue border and gray fringe; flap has blue border and gray fringe; printed in center of flap is blue all-seeing eye; printed on body in blue are square, sunburst, and arc with grapevine and wheat stalk; blue silk waist cord with tasseled ends affixed to top of apron; maker's label on reverse reads: "The Masonic Supply Co. / Serving the Fraternity / Since 1885 / Bloomington, Illinois."

One of the emblems of a Past Master, a sun within compasses, with a quadrant connecting its legs, adorns this apron. It may have been given to Russell Winslow May (1934-1997) at the conclusion of his term as the Master of Orient Lodge in Norwood, Massachusetts. Though this apron features traditional colors and symbols, it was manufactured in a modern factory, printed on a mechanized press and made a thousand miles away from where it was used. For further information, see Newell, Aimee E., "The Badge of a Freemason," 2015, p. 236-237.