memento mori

The box of fiber prints was labelled Edward Steichen, and the photographer was curious. It was lying on the floor ready to be carted to the dumpster along with the other belongings of an elderly neighbor who had recently died. She leafed through them. There was the man who had been the director of the department of photography at MOMA for decades, the curator of "The Family of Man," which introduced documentary photography to millions of Americans. In the prints, Steichen was hanging a show of images clearly recognizable by any former LIFEer as those of David Douglas Duncan.
   And so I emailed the photo department at MOMA to see if they wanted these rescues. A piece of photographic history.