Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Masonic Secretary Apron
1790 - 1820
Maker not researched
USA: Massachusetts
Ink and wash on leather
overall: 15 1/8 in x 16 3/4 in
Loaned by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts
GL2004.1044

White leather Masonic apron with blue painted border and leather ties; blue stenciled on apron is Lodge Secretary's emblem showing blue crossed quill pens. Written in in on back: "363-2" Noted on the close-to-body edge of the at the viewer's right in ink, "Allen Flagg."

In the 1700s, most Masonic aprons were made from leather. Some retained the shape of the animal they were made from, as this example does. This officer’s apron bears minimal painted decoration, a simple border—the color blue represented the lodge—and a symbol of the lodge Secretary in the shape of his jewel, or badge, of office. The Secretary undertook correspondence and kept records for the lodge. Crossed pens signify the office. “The Badge of a Freemason: Masonic Aprons from the Collection,” March 2016-March 2017