Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Members of Asbury Lodge No. 142
1887
Brother Stauffer
USA: New Jersey, Asbury Park
Photograph on paper mounted on cardboard
overall: 7 1/4"h x 8 7/8"w
Museum Purchase through the Generosity of Helen G. Deffenbaugh in Memory of George S. Deffenbaugh
2008.045

Sepia-toned Masonic photographic portrait of the members of Asbury Lodge No. 142. The men are arranged in four rows; most wear Masonic aprons, some wear Masonic jewels. The room has a patterned carpet and floral patterned wallpaper. On the wall at each end of the photo is a window with white inner curtains and striped outer drapes. At center on the wall is a painted (?) Masonic G with glory rays all around and a six-sided border. At back center of the men, the Master wears a top hat and sits in the Master's chair. A printed label pasted to the back of the photograph explains the circumstances of the photo (see copy in file).

According to the printed label on the back of the photo, it was taken at a Special Communication of Asbury Lodge No. 142 in Asbury Park, NJ in late October 1887. Brother Stauffer "was present with his photographic apparatus, for it had been announced that he would take a picture of the lodge by electric light." Master William H. Beegle was surprised with a Past Master's jewel on the same night; he served as Master of the lodge from 1885 to 1887.