History in the Making

Lee Harper’s miniature replicas do more than surprise and delight — they are brimming with historical facts and precise architectural detail that keep her fans and patrons wanting to learn more.

Written by Sonia Thompson  |  Photos by Joe Worthem

Anyone who has ever played with or admired a dollhouse knows what a joy miniatures are to behold. The tiny windows, the itty-bitty chairs, the wee cups of coffee. But for Oxford artist Lee Harper, the fun is actually in the research.

“I love objects that can tell history,” Harper said. “The history part is really important to me.

I need to have a story. I need some facts. I need some kind of context.”

Harper has been creating historically accurate, detailed and scaled replicas of Oxford’s most iconic buildings since 2019. From local businesses including Oxford’s Square Books and The Gin to private homes like Shadowlawn and the Stick Fence House, Harper’s work is instantly recognizable. But there is always more to learn, even with the most familiar places.

“I want to know, ‘is it dirty around the doorknob because everybody uses this door as opposed to that one?’ Little things like that,” Harper said. “In fact, if the building is perfect, it’s kind of boring. The more wear and tear, the more character.”

The history of how Harper began creating this artwork involves two of her favorite people: her son and the late Ron Shapiro. When her son, Ben, was young, she started making miniature Halloween skeletons for him as a substitute for the popular Christmastime Elf on the Shelf. As the tradition continued, Harper began adding more details.

Those details morphed into artistic dioramas that would come to include catacombs, St. Roch’s Chapel in New Orleans, Typhoid Mary, Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution, to name a few. It became a series titled “History Bones.”

“I myself am drawn to the odd and curious,” she said. “So now [the skeleton] had clothes. Now we have a cobblestone street because of the time period. What are the buildings like? What would the outfits be? What kind of facial hair would men have?” 

At the same time Harper was creating “History Bones,” she made a special piece for the annual Yoknapatawpha Arts Council Christmas ornament auction fundraiser. It was 2019, the year Ron Shapiro died, and Harper decided to make a replica of Shapiro’s coffee shop/arthouse movie theater The Hoka to honor him. Her Hoka became a precursor to her current series.

“That right there changed the total trajectory of my life and my work,” Harper said. “It brought everything I love doing into one wheel- house. It combined history, storytelling, asking people about their stories and making art.”

Since then, Harper’s artwork has been featured in magazines including Southern Living, Delta Magazine and Garden & Gun. More career highlights include exhibits at the Museum of the Mississippi Delta and the Walter Anderson Museum of Art.

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She cherishes memories of creating a commission for William Eggleston’s family and meeting Walter Anderson’s children Mary, Leif and John for her re-creation of Oldfields, the Anderson home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

“There are no photos of the interior of their house besides the attic,” Harper said. “And they gave me the blueprint through their stories that made it possible to make a model of Oldfields.”

In 2020, Harper, with her friend the late Pableaux Johnson, self-published a collection of her work, titled “Tiny Oxford Volume 1. Mississippi Memories in Miniature.” Her second book, slated for publication by University Press of Mississippi in August of 2027, casts a wider net.

It will include photos of her pieces from around the state, everything from the well-known Graceland Too in Holly Springs to the Mayflower Café in Jackson to oddities like the Moonshine Submarine in Port Gibson.

For Harper, there are so many stories she still wants to tell about her home state.

“I thought, if we’re going to do a Mississippi book, why not make it a wonderful celebration of art, music, food, writing, everything,” she said.

“We all know Mississippi has a lot of hideous chapters. But we do have a lot to celebrate, too. You just have to be positive and find the good, and above all, be curious about things.”