BOSTON, MASS.- “A quick shot fired by a hunter without deliberate aim,” reads the original definition of snap-shot from the early 19th century. By the end of the century, the term had come to describe photographs of everyday life taken by a handheld camera. With the invention of the Kodak #1 in the 1880s, and then the ubiquitous Brownie, which sold for just $1 beginning in 1900, the democratization of photography in America had begun. Effortless, reliable, and affordable— making pictures was no longer a hobby of the wealthy or the technically initiated.

This exhibition celebrates the now-historic photographic snapshot—supplanted in large part today by pictures on Instagram and other forms of digital photography. The images on view commemorate important events, document travel, and record “ordinary” moments. They provide a sense of journeying into the intimate worlds of others, provoking amusement, curiosity, nostalgia, and enchantment. At the same time, the snapshots convey important photographic qualities, from inadvertent double exposures to unexpectedly cropped forms, and are part of what makes photography such a rich and expressive medium. Once discarded, many bear physical traces of their past: creases or folds, cuts, fading, and writing. Each captures a moment in time and an unknown story, making us wonder, What happened before…and after?

Unfinished Stories also celebrates the remarkable gift to the MFA of a large group of found photographs from the Peter J. Cohen collection. This avid collector has rescued more than 50,000 lost, discarded, or disowned personal photographs, dating from about 1890 onward and sought out at flea markets, antique shops, galleries, Ebay, and private dealers. They are arranged here to reflect the engaging thematic groupings devised by Cohen in his endless search: People at Play, Photographers’ Shadows, Women in Trees, People on Poles, Double Exposures, Hula Madness, and more.

From the curators: In many ways, this exhibition reflects choices: those of the unidentified photographers, who captured moments in snapshot form; the original keepers, who then discarded them for one reason or another; the collector, Peter Cohen, who discovered them; and several MFA curators, encouraged by Cohen to select works that appealed to us as individuals. As we sifted through thousands of images together, we honed our appreciation of them as rich cultural artifacts. We were inspired to consider the “fine art” photography that we work with daily in an entirely new light. And it was also great fun! This exhibition reflects only a small sample of Cohen’s very generous gift of approximately 1,000 snapshots to the Museum. We look forward to continuing to work with these fascinating and enigmatic objects in the years to come.