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HARLEM:
The visitons of Morgan and Marvin Smith opens at Pensacola Museum of Art and University of West Florida.
By Ellen Schweir
Splash!
 | | LEFT: Morgan and Marvin
Smith, “Robert Day
playing Hi-Li, 1937.”
Morgan and Marvin
Smith Collection,
Schomberg Center for
Research in Black
Culture.
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This summer the Pensacola Museum of Art (PMA) will partner with the University of West Florida (UWF) to present the exhibit, “Harlem: The Visions of Morgan and Marvin Smith.”
Works in the show will be on exhibition in both the upstairs galleries of the PMA and in the University Gallery, creating a great avenue for increased visibility for the spectacular black and white photographs that highlight the Harlem Renaissance.
The exhibition will open at the PMA on Friday, August 12 and at the UWF Gallery on Monday, August 22 ,the first day back for students. A joint opening reception will be held at both venues on Friday, August 26.
 | | A man sifts though the dirt. This is one of the activities
volunteers can do.
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To allow for patrons to visit both exhibitions on opening night, the receptions will be staggered with the UWF Gallery reception beginning at 4 and continuing until 6p.m. and the PMA reception beginning at 5 and continuing until 7p.m. Both shows with remain on view through October 15.
The exhibition, “Harlem: The Vision of Morgan and Marvin Smith” surveys the lives, art and work of Harlem’s premier photographers.
 | | TOP: A barrel well.
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Settling in Harlem in 1933, African American identical twins Morgan and Marvin Smith opened a photography studio where they photographed African American businessmen, politicians, entertainers and athletes in a time that was the precursor to the Harlem Renaissance. Their studio, located next door to The Apollo Theatre, became a
Pensacola popular meeting place for some of the era’s most notable figures including ball player Jackie Robinson, writer Langston Hughes, and entertainers such as Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. This exhibition features over 100 silver gelatin photographs detailing one of the most unique and creative cultural movements in American history.
 | | RIGHT: A barrel
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The exhibition takes viewers into the nightclubs, theaters, social halls and streets of Harlem in its heyday. The brothers’ photography studio next door to the Apollo Theater was a magnet for artists, writers, performers and prominent community members (everyone from W.E.B. DuBois and George Washington Carver to Jackie Robinson and Lena Home. Their specialty was Harlem stepping out) at clubs like Small’s Paradise, Jimmy’s Chicken Shack, Uptown House and The Flash InnŠ at local fraternity and sorority dancesŠ and at the annual Beaux-Arts ball at the Savoy. And their camera caught everything from candid street scenes to historic events, including the arrival of the Scottsboro Boys in New York after their release from an Alabama prison. The brothers then capped their photographic career by going into the movies, as sound recordist and set decorator respectively. The Renaissance men of Harlem? Indisputably, two gentlemen named Smith.
 | | One of the trenches at the dig site.
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“Harlem: The Visions of Morgan and Marvin Smith” is organized by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library and sponsored by the Pensacola Museum of Art in collaboration with the University of West Florida.
 | | Artifacts are on display at the site.
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The PMA is open Tuesday through Friday 10a.m. - 5p.m. and Saturday - Sunday 12p.m. - 5p.m. The cost is $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for students and active military. For more information, please call the PMA at 850-4326247 or visit www.pensacolamuseumofart. org.
August 20 – Harlem Nights, a late summer benefit for the Pensacola Museum of Art, 7p.m.- until. Details TBA.
Friday, August 26 – A joint opening reception at UWF from 4
6p.m. and at the PMA from 5-7 p.m.
Programs UWF Archaeology students are
Unearthing
Pensacola’s history
This summer there are three excavations being done by the Archaeology Institute of UWF. The first excavation in Bay County is in a wooded area. The second is uncovering more shipwrecks in the Pensacola Bay, and the third is a terrestrial dig in downtown Pensacola.
The dig, behind the T. T. Wentworth museum, is a section of the Commanding Officer’s Compound in the British Fort of Pensacola and has been dated around the late 1750’s. The site is full of discoveries, since the fort was originally held by the Spanish only to be over taken by the British. The site revealed Chinese porcelain that was traded into the area and artifact of the Native Americans who were the first in this area, as well as British and Spanish items.
Those working on the site include Dr. Benchley, Dr. Bense, students of UWF, and volunteers. The students are both undergraduate and graduate students that are majoring in Anthropology and specializing in Archaeology. The students have been rotating between the three projects this summer, since so many wanted to work underwater. The terrestrial site currently has three graduate students, two faculty, and undergraduate students.
There are volunteers that come by on a daily basis and sort through items found, separating them by material type, or sift through the dirt taken from the site. There are other volunteers that stay committed for a longer period of time and are given the opportunity to learn how to dig in the site. Digging in the site, and sifting through the dirt both involve long hours in the sun that most people try to avoid. Even the students and supervisors are suffering in the sun.
“Students got dehydrated. They got heat blisters and sun blisters,” said Dr. Benchley.
The project started in the first week of May and will be finished by the 15th of August. According to Dr. Benchley, the most interesting things are found at the end of a dig but they only have the time given to them. They must leave even though they are excited about the other tings that might come up.
“We can always come back another time,” Dr. Benchley said. In fact, this dig was prompted by new discoveries at the end of an excavation in 1993.
After the summer dig is over, there will be lab class held at UWF. Those in the class will include the students and volunteers that worked on the site. They will be going through the artifacts dug up to classify and date them.
“It’s difficult. We have to be lucky and have a broken dish to tell us the time,” said Dr. Benchley. Past artifacts that were dug up in the surrounding area are on display at the site.
These artifacts, along with informational packets, are available to anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the area.
Currently, Ken Alderman is the man usually sitting at the information desk, selling tshirts for ten dollars and talking knowledgably about the history.
The Wentworth museum also has an exhibit inside that has larger artifacts and reproductions on display.
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