Class Photographs. A Societie Groupe, from "Manners and Customs of Ye Harvard Students" 1877

Curator: This is "Class Photographs. A Societie Groupe, from 'Manners and Customs of Ye Harvard Students'" by Francis Gilbert Attwood. The medium appears to be graphite on paper. Editor: It's… wonderfully anxious. All those tiny figures, crammed together. What a potent representation of the pressure-cooker environment of an elite university. Curator: The groupings are quite intentional. Note the recurrence of circular formations; wheels, if you will, suggesting cycles of tradition and social expectations bearing down. Editor: And the wheel in the center with the figure hovering above! It feels allegorical, a symbolic overview of this closed world. Are those portraits around the edge? Curator: Likely, yes. It's a fascinating glimpse into how these students saw themselves and their place within the institution. Editor: I feel like I'm looking at a map—not of a physical place, but of a social landscape. Quite a poignant snapshot.