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

Editor: This photograph, by William Webster, is titled "Defectives, Feeble-minded: United States. Massachusetts. Waverly. School for Feeble-minded." It's a somber image. What social context informs this piece? Curator: The image's power lies in its depiction of labor and control. The institutional setting and the subjects' attire reveal a structured environment. How does the repetitive nature of their activity speak to the means of production within this institution? Editor: It makes me consider the labor and the repetitive aspect of the activities. I'm interested in how the photo was used to perhaps reinforce societal views. Curator: Precisely. The image likely circulated to reinforce existing power structures and ideas about the "feeble-minded" within society. The very process of image-making and circulation becomes a tool of social control. Editor: It's chilling to see the manufacturing of societal perspectives documented like this. Curator: Indeed. It highlights the complex relationship between art, labor, and social power.