AURORA - When Allison Stern was visiting abroad, the Wells College senior came across a Freemason tomb in a cemetery that she had toured.

That, coupled with what Stern had learned about the fraternal organization during a United States history class, prompted her to focus on the history of the Freemasons for the topic of her senior thesis.

“At a Freemasonry lodge you can find a lawyer and a janitor joined in brotherhood,” Stern said during a reading of her thesis paper held at

Scipio Lodge 110 Tuesday evening. “That is what the Freemasons are all about.”

After doing her own independent research of the organization, Stern turned to members of the Scipio lodge located in Aurora to further develop her knowledge.

She credits Worshipful Master Ed Maassen, grand historian George Peter and past master Steve Zabriskie, all of the Scipio lodge with helping her complete her research.

“They have been my mentors,” she said.

Stern began her research in early September and said that the biggest thing she has learned about the organization is that they have been misunderstood throughout history.

“The one thing that I have learned is that the biggest secret about the Freemasons is that they have no secrets,” she said.

Both Maassen and Peter agreed that they, along with Freemasons throughout history have been portrayed in the wrong light.

Peter, a masonry member since 1949, said that he was interviewed for a documentary based on Freemasonry for a popular cable television channel but was edited by what the documentary creators wanted to air.

After Stern's thesis reading, guests and fellow Freemason members from all over New York were invited to Wells College's Long Library for a living history exhibit of Freemasonry history.

The exhibit is on loan to the college from the Scipio lodge, which is known as “a living time capsule of the early 19th century” because of its historical originality.

“The building and its contents are original to the day it was opened in 1820,” Peter said.