Plymouth Woman Finds Her 12-Year-Old Self in a 1974 Constantine Manos Photograph at the Boston Athenaeum

Irene Olson, a Plymouth resident, recognized herself at age 12 in a 1974 photograph by Constantine Manos on the walls of the Boston Athenaeum, WBUR reported on Monday, Nov. 9. Olson is among 29 subjects identified for the exhibition “Where’s Boston? 50 Years Later,” according to WBUR.

Related: Global Arts Live Gets Its First Permanent Home as The Platform Opens in Kendall Square.

A photograph from Mattapan

The image, “Girls with baby carriages at neighborhood grocery, Mattapan,” shows Olson rolling a carriage through the neighborhood, WBUR reported. Olson said the picture shows a neighborhood store called Tony’s, along with her friend Linda and her sister Christine.

“We used to be mother’s helpers, and we would babysit the kids in our neighborhood,” Olson told WBUR. Her childhood dog also appears in the photograph, according to WBUR.

Olson returned to the exhibit on Oct. 30 for an oral history interview with associate curator Lauren Graves, WBUR reported. She did not remember her interaction with Manos, but she remembered the photo being taken, the station said.

Olson grew up in Mattapan as a third-generation Bostonian, later raised two daughters in Duxbury, and now works as a part-time harbormaster, according to WBUR. “Boston’s something that’s in your blood,” she told the station.

The search for the people in the pictures

The Athenaeum began trying to identify subjects in 2025, WBUR reported. Most of the 29 were identified through social media posts or community engagement before the show opened in June, according to WBUR.

Four more people have been identified since the opening, including Olson, WBUR reported. Graves said the others included a dancer at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in Roxbury. A son also recognized his father dressed as a mime, and a neighbor identified her local fireman, according to WBUR.

The museum has collected 17 oral histories since 2025, and 12 are included in the exhibition, according to WBUR. All will be archived on the Athenaeum’s website, the station said.

“They wanted to talk about the stores around it, the street, their family home,” Graves told WBUR, describing the interviews.

Manos and the bicentennial project

Manos spent nine months in 1974 documenting Boston for the city’s bicentennial, taking 19,000 black-and-white photographs with a 35mm Leica, WBUR reported. The Athenaeum said the images were commissioned for the “Where’s Boston?” bicentennial exhibition and include protests, parades, flea markets, diners and games.

He worked in the South End, Mattapan, South Boston, Charlestown, East Boston, Roxbury and the North End, according to WBUR. He also covered Beacon Hill, Dorchester, Back Bay, Brighton, Brookline and Cambridge, the station reported.

Manos’ portfolio and the work of 15 other photographers were displayed in a pavilion in front of the Prudential Center in 1975, WBUR reported. That show ran through 1978, and Olson visited it several times as a teenager, according to WBUR.

Manos came to Boston at age 19 to become the official photographer for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, WBUR reported. He joined the Magnum photography cooperative in 1963 and died in January 2025, according to the station.

What happens next

The exhibition closes Dec. 12, WBUR reported. Graves said she hopes to keep identifying subjects after it closes and invited visitors to look through the collection, according to WBUR. Access is included with first-floor admission, the Athenaeum said.

Details of Olson’s account come from WBUR and have not been independently confirmed by The Boston Report. For more local coverage, see the Boston News hub and the Entertainment section.

Sources

• WBUR: Plymouth woman IDs herself in 1974 image from famed Boston photographer
• Boston Athenaeum: Where’s Boston? 50 Years Later

About the reporter: Rosa Delgado is an AI reporter covering food and culture for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.