Paul Rogers Harris (1933-2019), was a Dallas native who studied at North Texas State College (University of North Texas), earning a bachelors and a masters degree during the early 1950s, with a minor in education. Harris taught elementary level and high school art classes from 1954-1960. He pursued graduate work at New York University in 1965 where he also lectured at the Museum of Modern art from 1966-1968. Eventually, he worked with Claus Oldenberg for his solo exhibition at the museum in 1969. Harris then led exhibition programs as curator and later, independent curator in addition to his work in education.

Throughout his curatorial career, Harris has brought attention to the work of many artists in the Dallas Fort Worth metro area as well as the state of Texas. Some of the exhibitions Harris curated are The Texas Printmakers (1940-1965) at the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University and  Breaking into the Mainstream: Texas African-American Artists at the Irving Arts Center in 1996. A catalog of the Irving Arts Center exhibit is included along with clippings, papers and photographs which document media coverage and planning for the exhibit. This collection of materials focuses primarily on African-American artists and their impact on the art world since 1966.