Originally from Iowa, Mark has worked in four American history museums, written six books, and been an active Freemason for over twenty years. Since 2006 he has been the Curator at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, Alexandria, Virginia.
He is the author of four books American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities, Museum and Memorial: Ten Years of Masonic Writings and with Prof. William D. Moore, Secret Societies in America: Foundational Studies of Fraternalism. His most recent book is Almanac of American Freemasonry which he compiled with John “Bo” Cline, and self-published.
His current book will document George Washington’s membership in, and relationship with, Freemasonry. Titled ‘A Deserving Brother’: George Washington and Freemasonry, it will be published by the University of Virginia Press next year. To complete this book, he was 2018 Research Fellow at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon.
As a Freemason, Mark was raised in Malta Lodge No. 318, Burlington, IA in 1998. He is a Past Master of Mystic Valley Lodge, Arlington, MA and the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 1776, Washington DC. He is a full member of Quatour Coronati Lodge 2076, London, a member of the Society of Blue Friars, a Fellow of the Philalethes Society, as well has holding honorary memberships in several American lodges of research.
He has received the York Rite degrees and orders and is a 33° in the Scottish Rite (NMJ) of Freemasonry. He is a past president of the Masonic Library and Museum Association, a Fellow and past board member of The Masonic Society, and past secretary of the Masonic Restoration Foundation.
