Thatcher Magoun, Jr, Medford, Massachusetts (1838-1894) 1858

Curator: This is a portrait of Thatcher Magoun, Jr. by John Adams Whipple, dating back to 1838. It's a fascinating early photograph. Editor: My first thought? It's a window into another time, so earnest and composed. I wonder what he was thinking, sitting still for so long. Curator: Whipple was a pioneer, really pushing the boundaries of early photography in Boston. It's interesting to consider the politics of representation here. Editor: Absolutely. He's posed formally, but there’s a vulnerability in his eyes. It's intriguing how photography could both create and capture an image, a carefully constructed truth. Curator: These portraits also served as a status symbol, democratizing art. To be captured like this meant access to a certain kind of power and memory-making. Editor: And now, we get to see him, a flicker of a life, still visible after all this time. So powerful. Curator: Indeed, a shared past now brought to us.