Unsung heroes. Transforming organizations, taking pictures, defending the lagoon.

The men behind the writings in the Lazzaretto Nuovo came from the foothills of the Alps, about 120 miles from Venice. The republic had assigned them a tiring, dangerous task, but one that was intended to defend the lagoon—and Europe itself—from the plague that raged in the eastern Mediterranean in the 16th century. The bastazi had to empty the holds of ships arriving from Constantinople and other ports, and sborar le robe—that is, remove the goods from their wrappings, sacks, and trunks, and air them out for days.

This rare and one-of-a-kind collection was amassed over more than 45 years by New York-based collector Larry J. West, a historian and avid collector of 19th-century photography. West purchased his first daguerreotype in 1975. As his collection grew, West conducted significant research and analysis of the objects, even authoring a treatise that details his findings, the conservation of the collection, and his metrics for authenticating the works. This, in addition to West’s extensive library, was also acquired by the museum and will be made available to researchers and visiting scholars as a major resource for new scholarship.

Transformation should be something that employees do, not something that is done to them. …The most successful transformations enable employees from every corner of the organization to put forward ideas that can improve the focus, process, and execution of initiatives.