McClellan Street

More than 100 black-and-white images of a working-class neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the 1970s grace the pages of this photo-essay produced by acclaimed photographers David and Peter Turnley. These hauntingly beautiful, raw and real photographs documenting life on McClellan Street were taken by the Turnley twins with a single camera as a high-school project. Although the brothers did not grow up on McClellan Street, their photographs represent a very personal, sincere, direct, and loving interaction with life on a street in the heartland of America. Many of the McClellan Street residents had migrated from Appalachia and some were of Hispanic origin. In a neighborhood that many might have ignored, the young Turnleys saw beauty, diversity, and wonderment. With a maturity beyond their years, they captured the life of this community for future generations.

Published with the generous support of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and the Institute for Advanced Study at Indiana University.