Harvard’s museum publicly doubted Lanier’s claim and suppressed a student story about it

Evidence

In a 2014 article in the Norwich Bulletin about Ms. Lanier’s story, the Director of External Relations for the Peabody Museum, Pamela Gerardi, was quoted as saying of Ms. Lanier: “She’s given us nothing that directly connects her ancestor or the person in our photograph.” … In March 2016, Ms. Lanier was interviewed by the Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper, about her investigation into her family history and the connection to the daguerreotypes. Soon thereafter, Ms. Lanier received an email from an editor at the Crimson informing her that the story was being killed due to “concerns the Peabody Museum has raised.” — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1115