W.J. Harris was a photographer who was born in England and immigrated to the United States as a child.

He grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Lake Hopatcong, N.J., in the late 1890s.

By the turn of the century, he was spending his winters in St. Augustine, Florida, photographing the nation's oldest city and selling his work on prints and postcards. He owned and operated a photography shop on historic St. George Street, near the city gates.

From 1898 until his death in 1940, he accumulated an impressive body of work, portraying many of the city's landmarks in historic photographs that are still being published and collected today.

Larger versions of his works are still displayed in several city and county buildings, as well as some of the bigger hotels in St. Augustine, and his postcards turn up regularly on auction sites like eBay.

W.J. Harris' granddaughters and their families live in St. Augustine and Tampa, Florida.