Alex Harris photographs and papers, 1970-2003.

ArchivalResource

Harris, Alex, 1949-. Alex Harris photographs and papers, 1970-2003.

Alex Harris photographs and papers, 1970-2003.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/46345761

The collection spans the years from the time Harris was producing his earliest photographic work as a graduate student at Yale University to his more recent work documenting the American South. There are 413 black-and-white and color photographic prints in the collection. Other materials housed in a separate series relate to aspects of Harris' career, and consist of publicity concerning exhibitions of his work; periodicals and other publications featuring Harris' documentary assignments and projects; and a variety of audio recordings of Harris' conference lectures and radio interviews with Harris concerning documentary photography and teaching. Additionally, one series of audiocassettes contains interviews conducted by Harris with Gertrude Duby Blom (1901-1993), well-known journalist, anthropologist, activist, and documentary photographer who studied indigenous peoples in Mexico. Original audio recordings are closed to use, but there are currently some use copies available. Harris' photography concerns a diversity of subjects, events, and landscapes. The earliest material, May Day: Yale on Strike, was taken by Harris while a student at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., in the wake of the arrest of Black Panther Party leader Bobby Seale. The series features images of student demonstrations, university officials, and U.S. National Guard members assigned to areas around the city of New Haven and Yale's campus. The images in the Alaska series depict the day-to-day lives of indigenous peoples in various small Alaskan communities.The second series, American South, 1971-1972, contains images from various regions of the rural Southeastern United States, including material from the Southern Appalachian mountains and the coastal regions of South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. The third series, Cuba Auto/Landscapes, contains a variety of images taken by Harris in Havana, Cuba. Each image features a different landscape taken from within the interior of various vehicles. The third series, Game Boy, is an extended study of children and technology and features Harris' son in a variety of situations with his gaming device. The fourth series, New Mexico/Arizona, contains material taken throughout the American Southwest, featuring images of the people and homes of the region. Included in this series are images from a Rainbow Gathering festival that was held in the late 1970s in Arizona. The body of work in Philadelphia Experience Corps, 1999, the fifth series, grew out of a documentary assignment in which Harris participated, and features images taken at various urban Philadelphia schools of the interactions of older adults and children. The sixth and final series, Portraits of Aging, contains images of elderly adults, taken chiefly in the Raleigh-Durham and Chapel Hill region of North Carolina. Each photograph is mounted and captioned by the photographer. Other materials in the collection are housed in the Publicity and Other Materials Series, and contain audio recordings, chiefly interviews with Harris and lectures by Harris, a variety of small publications featuring his work, and publicity for his exhibits and related events. Also included in this series are a set of oral interviews conducted by Harris of noted anthropologist and photographer Gertrude Blom.

500 items (6.5 lin. ft.)

Duke University Libraries, Duke University Library; Perkins Library