HIBBING, MINN. – When John Peterson pulled the dusty, battered case from his basement, it was the nearest thing to buried treasure any of us is likely to see.
Ever since his wife's death almost two years ago, the 81-year-old Peterson had been going through their belongings, sifting and sorting and rearranging.
One of his tasks was bringing some order to more than 6,000 uncataloged slides from his 60-plus years as a professional photographer.
For months, he worked his way through them. A box here, a tray there. Another box. And another. Squinting through a small glass viewfinder, holding the slides up to the light one by one.