This 1895 photo of a girl holding her sister’s hand seemed normal—until the results of the restoration were revealed.

When museum curator Dr. Helen Foster examined this 1895 photograph in 2021, she saw what everyone else had seen for 126 years. Two identical white-clad sisters standing hand in hand in a garden, their faces a Victorian solemnity. The photograph was donated anonymously to the Boston Historical Society, with only a handwritten note.

The Davy Sisters, 1895. Rest in peace. Helen put it away almost without thinking. But then she noticed something strange about the smaller girl’s hand. The curvature of the fingers, the unnatural angle. She ordered a high-resolution scan. The restoration revealed things that helped Helen understand why this photograph had been hidden for over a century, and why it said, “Rest in peace.”

This is not just a photograph of two sisters. This is a photograph of a promise that endures beyond death. The photograph arrived at the Boston Historical Society on March 15, 2021, in a simple, untitled manuscript.

Inside was a single sepia-toned photograph, about 5 x 7 inches (13 x 18 cm), mounted on thick cardboard, typical of studio photography in the 1890s. The photograph showed two girls standing in what appeared to be a garden. The older girl, perhaps 10 or 11 years old, stood on the left, wearing a white Victorian dress with a lace collar and puffed sleeves.

Her dark hair was pulled back from her face. Her expression was serious, almost ghostly. Beside her stood a smaller girl, perhaps six or seven years old, also dressed in white. She was shorter, thinner, with the same dark hair and serious expression. The younger girl’s right hand was held by the older girl’s left. Their fingers were tightly intertwined.

Behind them, climbing roses hung from an arbor. The soft afternoon light suggested that the photograph had been taken outdoors, which was unusual at a time when most portraits were taken in studios with controlled lighting. At the bottom of the photograph, written in pale brown ink, were the words: “Liy and Rose Davies, June 1895.”

“The cover letter, written on modern paper in shaky, old-fashioned handwriting, simply said: ‘The Davy Sisters, 1895. Rest in peace. I can’t hold this in any longer. Someone has to know the truth. Dr. Helen Foster, 52, was the curator of the Boston Historical Society’s photographic archive for 18 years.’”