INDIANAPOLIS — She’s normally writing about history, but next month, she’ll become a part of it.
Rachel Berenson Perry of Brown County will receive the 2017 Dorothy Riker Hoosier Historian Award at the Indiana Historical Society’s annual Founders Day dinner Nov. 6 in Indianapolis.
For the past three decades, Perry’s work has significantly expanded knowledge of and appreciation for Indiana’s historic art and its artists, past and present, according to a news release from the Indiana Historical Society.
The Hoosier Historian Award recognizes historians who have made distinguished contributions to the field of historical scholarship.
Perry’s name has long been connected to one of Indiana’s most famous Hoosier Group painters, Brown County artist Theodore Clement Steele.
While serving as assistant curator of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, she founded the Friends of T.C. Steele, established the first Indiana Historical Bureau marker for the artist, raised funds for reconstruction of his remote painting studio and established the site’s first gift shop. Most recently, Perry curated “Indiana Impressions: The Art of T.C. Steele” for the Indiana Historical Society.
Several letters written in support of her award nomination point out that she was making her mark on the art world as early as 1988.
“She initiated the state’s first plein air contest,” wrote Catherine Martin, past president of the Nashville Arts and Entertainment Commission. “This semi-annual art competition draws artists of all ages from throughout the state and has served as the prototype for the many paint-outs that are held throughout Indiana today.”
Perry went on to serve as deputy director, then director, of Indiana’s state historic sites (1995-2003) and as fine arts curator for the Indiana State Museum (2003-12).
Perry has done much to awaken the world to Indiana as an art center through articles, books and educational talks.
In addition to Steele, Perry’s subjects include William Forsyth, Ada Shulz and additional members of the Brown County Art Colony. Her next work, a book on Indianapolis native and abstract artist Felrath Hines, will be published in 2018.
“Her works brilliantly connect the great historical presence of the Hoosier Group with the artists of today,” writes Indianapolis artist C. W. Mundy. “Perry is a Hoosier treasure and a very important figure in Indiana art history.”
