Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Masonic Lodge Master
1865
Henry Cushing (1833-1894)
USA: Vermont, Windsor
Photograph on paper
overall: 4"h x 2-1/2"w
Gift in memory of Jacques Noel Jacobsen
2008.038.35

Sepia-toned carte-de-visite photograph. Three-quarter length portrait of man wearing a black coat, top hat, and pants; a white shirt, bow tie, and Masonic apron and collar. Collar is black, with a white border and a floral (possibly acacia) motif on each side. Apron is white, with a square and compass with the letter G, indicative of a sitting master. Man is wearing square jewel, and is holding a gavel in his right hand, which is perched atop the end post of a rail. Behind the man is a tracing board with Masonic Symbols and the words "Master Mason / Fellow Craft" The photograph has a gilded, double-lined border. One the back is handwritten in pencil, '"Sitting" Master of Masonic / Blue Lodge. Note top / hat, square jewel / and gavel all / indicating sitting Master / dated 1865". Printed on the back in black is "H. Cushing / Photographer, / Windsor, VT. / Negatives preserved." Additionally, there is a two-cent orange tax stamp on the back with a portrait of George Washington and the text "U.S. Inter. Rev. / Two / Cents / U.S. Inter. Rev." The stamp bears a black ink cancellation that reads "H.C. / Feb. / 1865", with the first and the last lines inverted.

Dressed in his regalia, this man stands before a chart that depicts the first three Masonic degrees. His jewel of office, his top hat, and the gavel in his hand all provide clues that he served as his lodge’s Master. Close examination shows that either the photographer or his client placed special importance on these features—someone drew the jewel and the square and compasses on the apron onto the negative before the photographer printed the picture.