Teenie Harris Archive Opens in Pittsburgh

- The archive is a massive collection, containing nearly 80,000 photographic negatives taken from the 1930s to the 1970s. It also includes roughly 5,000 feet of 16mm motion picture film. - For over 40 years, Harris was the primary photographer for the *Pittsburgh Courier*, one of the most influential Black newspapers in the United States. His ability to perfectly capture a moment earned him the nickname "One Shot" from a former Pittsburgh mayor. - The Carnegie Museum of Art acquired the extensive collection from the Harris family in 2001. The digitization process has been a multi-decade effort, with tens of thousands of images already made available to the public online. - The new gallery provides unprecedented access to the collection, displaying never-before-seen color photographs, film canisters, and original negatives on light boxes. - In addition to photographs, the exhibition incorporates a timeline of Harris's life alongside local and national historical events, as well as recorded oral histories from community members who help identify the people and places in his work. - Harris documented a wide range of subjects, from everyday life and family portraits to major cultural figures like Duke Ellington and Jackie Robinson and political leaders like John F. Kennedy. - The museum actively involves the Pittsburgh community in stewarding the archive, using first-person accounts and an advisory committee to inform catalog information. The museum plans to engage a volunteer corps to gather more oral histories related to the photographs.