Professor Neil Harris is the Preston & Sterling Morton Professor Emeritus of History and Art History at the University of Chicago. After receiving an A. B. from Columbia University in 1958 he continued to Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, receiving a second B.A. in 1960. He returned to the U.S., completing a doctorate from Harvard University in 1965. He taught at Harvard first as an instructor and then assistant professor of history in 1965. Harris' research was drawn from written accounts of the time and not an art history. After his appointment to assistant professor at Harvard, Harris moved to the University of Chicago in 1969 as associate professor. He rose to (full) professor of history at Chicago in 1972. Harris moved on to other forms of American Kultur, most notably Humbug: The Art of P. T. Barnum, which appeared in 1973. Harris treated Barnum as a cultural force, much as emerging American artists, feeding the public's sense of wonder and their appreciation of Barnum's artistry. His interests center on the evolution of American cultural life, high, popular, and mass, and more particularly on the formation and sustenance of its supporting institutions. Harris has special concerns with the history of museums and libraries, the social history of art and design, the development of world fairs, the character of art collecting, the nature of metropolitan life, the design of consumption and shopping experiences, and the relationship between people and the built landscape. Current work includes a study of J. Carter Brown and the National Gallery of Art, and an examination of American newspaper buildings.
