Master Mason Apron, ca. 1860 Probably Kentucky Gift of Laura J. Manson, 2004.022

This apron has a colorful history. An inscription states that it was “Captured at the battle of Logan’s Field, K.Y. Jan 19, 1862….” Union soldiers who were Freemasons found Masonic charters and aprons during the war and brought many of them home as souvenirs. This apron remained in the family of General Mahlon D. Manson (1820-1895), who took it from the Kentucky battlefield. Three generations of Freemasons in his family wore it before it was donated to the Museum.