Their faces look out at us asking, “Who am I?” or “Do you know me?” hoping to be identified once and for all, for all time to come. The Mattapoisett Historical Museum is in possession of hundreds of photographs dating from the 1800s to as recently as the 1980s bearing images of people and places from Mattapoisett, but lacking identification. In their latest exhibit, the museum is asking the public to help solve the mystery each of the pictures represents. Each black and white or colorized image is a mini-mystery waiting to be solved.
And those images range from hauntingly beautiful to playful to utilitarian in nature such as the photograph of the butcher shop replete with freshly chopped meats spread across a long counter. One face that I found simply perfect was that of a young woman from the late 1800s, perhaps a graduation or milestone birthday picture. Her face – so full of the blush of youth and promise now many years in the past – begs to have questions answered such as: Who was this woman? What became of her? Where does she lie today and for all eternity? And a similarly striking face is that of a young man from the early 1900s, whose earnest expression seems to say, “I will endeavor to live up to the expectations of my family…”
Two photographs depict a playful winter scene. In one, a tiny child pulls a sled through deep snow, while a companion picture shows that child and another playing together in the snow. Who are they and in whose yard are they playing? All that is known is that the pictures were taken in 1895.
Museum Curator Elizabeth Hutchison said, “…maybe people can help us out, you never know, someone may wander in and recognize someone in the pictures…” She said that it’s so important for people to identify photographs by simply writing on the back of the picture in pencil the pertinent information such as the date, place of the photograph, and name(s) of any individual(s) in the picture. Hutchison said that on the museum’s Facebook page these photographs and others not presently in the exhibit will be posted in the hope that someone can help identify them.
The exhibit will run through September 13. The public is encouraged to stop in and see for themselves if the faces calling out to be named speak to them.
By Marilou Newell
