In the back of a modest picture frame shop on Penn Avenue in East Liberty, a revolution quietly took root. Over three decades ago, Wendi Miller, a trans woman, artist, activist, and community builder, transformed Miller Frame into something far more than a business. It became a refuge. A cultural womb. A radical archive of care.
From the outside, it was a place for matting and mounting; inside, it was a sanctuary for Pittsburgh’s trans diaspora, especially trans women, navigating the hostile terrain of the 80s and 90s. When Wendi passed away on April 6, 2023, the city lost a pioneer. But thanks to her son Cooper Miller, the heartbeat of her work continues through the Wendi Miller Legacy Project, a collective effort to preserve, contextualize, and celebrate her life’s work.
Wendi didn’t wait for permission to make a change; she made it herself. In 1982, she opened the Miller Frame location in East Liberty, and in 1991, she began hiring trans women in an era when simply existing as trans was often criminalized or pushed underground. Her shop became a grassroots employment initiative, a support hub, and a space for trans people to exhale without fear.
In 1995, Wendi co-founded the Pittsburgh Transsexual Support Group, expanding her earlier work with Transpitt, which she served as president. These groups weren’t just social circles; they were lifelines in a world of systemic isolation.
That same year, Wendi traveled to Washington, D.C. to advocate during the first Congressional Transgender Lobby Day, pushing for the inclusion of gender identity in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Back home, she worked with the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Rights to redefine “sex” in local law to protect gender-variant people, helping lay the groundwork for protections many Pittsburghers benefit from today.
And yes, Wendi and Cooper even appeared on The Ricki Lake Show in 1996 to talk trans issues on national TV. That’s the kind of legacy we’re talking about.
In 2023, the city officially declared April 8 as “Wendi Miller Day” in her honor. But her legacy stretches far beyond one date on the calendar.
What We Save Saves Us
Now, Cooper is assembling something radical: a living archive. To date, over 700 pieces of artwork and 75-plus boxes of historical materials have been packed, sorted, and cataloged through the Wendi Miller Legacy Project.
Cooper isn’t doing this alone. Archivists, historians, artists, and local queer leaders are coming together to make sure this memory-work is done with care, rigor, and soul. This isn’t just preservation, it’s resurrection. It’s insurgent tenderness in a time of erasure.
As the nation backslides into anti-trans hysteria with book bans, bathroom bills, and outright anti-trans legislation, the need to protect queer cultural memory has never been more urgent. Wendi’s story is proof of how trans people have always led movements for justice, built mutual aid infrastructures, and created spaces where we could breathe and imagine.
And we’ve seen what happens when those histories are erased. We know what happens when archives burn.
Wendi Miller’s story isn’t just Pittsburgh history; it’s American history. It’s queer history. It’s resistance history. And the work of preserving it isn’t just nostalgic; it’s revolutionary.
This project is a chance to honor a life lived in radical love. To fight back against the tides of erasure. To hold space for the stories that saved us and still can.
You can support the Wendi Miller Legacy Project by donating, volunteering, or sharing her story. Because history isn’t just what we remember. It’s what we refuse to forget.
