Defectives, Feeble-minded: United States. Massachusetts. Waverly. School for Feeble-minded: Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded.: Brush Making. c. 1903

Curator: This photograph by William A. Webster, titled "Defectives, Feeble-minded: United States. Massachusetts. Waverly. School for Feeble-minded: Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded.: Brush Making," captures a scene at the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded. Editor: It’s striking how the sepia tone lends a sense of historical distance, yet the boys’ focused expressions feel very present. The uniformity of their work… it's quite heavy. Curator: Indeed. These schools were part of a larger eugenics movement, aimed at social control through segregation and forced labor disguised as "training." Brush making was considered suitable work. Editor: The image really foregrounds the manual labor involved. Look at the tools hanging on the wall, the worn workbenches. It speaks to the idea of labor itself as a material, a substance these boys are being molded by. Curator: Precisely. It makes you consider the power structures inherent in defining who gets to create fine art versus who is relegated to industrial production. The photograph becomes a document exposing the exploitation. Editor: Right. It challenges us to confront how notions of disability intersected with class and race, determining one's access to creative agency. Curator: It's a difficult image, but important in understanding the history of institutionalization and social biases. Editor: A stark reminder of the social forces shaping the lives and the very materials of existence for these young men.