As Head of Classics, Drawings & Archives at Avery Library of Columbia University, Teri Harris holds an important responsibility as it relates to upholding the legacy of legendary architects and artists. While she was earning her B.A. in Art History at Williams College, Teri took a class which changed her life, and established a bent toward architecture. It led her to move to New York City from the rural landscape she had been living in to work at an architectural nonprofit, where she became exposed the in’s and out’s of architectural ingenuity. She then began an MA in Art History at Columbia University in September 2001, a time she recalled during our conversation. After earning her master’s degree, Teri fled the city for greener pasturers in Syracuse, NY where she worked as a project coordinator for the “Marcel Breuer Digital Archive” at the Special Collections Research Center at Syracuse University Libraries. However, she eventually came back to Columbia to earn her PhD; joined Avery Library as Curator of the Classics Collection; which led to her current role. We discussed the formative experiences which compelled her towards art and architecture; the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright; her doctoral thesis, The German Garden City Movement: Architecture, Politics and Urban Transformation, 1902-1931; the several exhibits she’s been involved with at Columbia; and life in New York City.
Opening Credits: Dee Yan-Key - sisyphus I Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0); Closing Credits: Dee Yan-Key - gone I Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)