Harvard spent decades exploiting and sanitizing the daguerreotypes’ history after 1976

Evidence

In 1976, Harvard discovered that the daguerreotypes were stored on its campus, realized their incalculable value as the earliest known photographs of American slaves and commenced a decades long campaign to sanitize the history of the images and exploit them for prestige and profit. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1025

Categorization

• QUESTION: The chapter shows Lanier’s own framing; whether the historical record supports the ‘sanitize and exploit’ characterization would be worth checking against Harvard’s actual record.