The History Department would like to congratulate Jill Weiss-Simins (MA, 2021) for winning two major awards in 2021: the Dorothy Riker Hoosier Historian Award from the Indiana Historical Society and the Indiana University Graduate School Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award for the Humanities and Fine Arts.

Jill Weiss-Simins is a historian at the Indiana Historical Bureau, a division of the Indiana State Library, where she has worked since 2008. The Indiana Historical Society notes her deep commitment to the study of history here in Indiana:

“She has greatly enhanced the study and public understanding of Indiana history through her contributions, including the State Historical Marker Program, The Talking Hoosier History podcast and the Indiana History Blog.”

The Dorothy Riker Hoosier Historian Award is made annually to a historian who has made distinguished contributions to the field of historical scholarship, including presentation, use of materials and preservation, or the affairs and activities of the Indiana Historical Society.

Jill filed her MA Thesis in April 2021. “A Little Deviltry”: Gilded Age Celebrity and William Merritt Chase’s Tenth Street Studio as Advertisement” explores the social and cultural networks of the artist William Merritt Chase. This work received the IU Graduate School Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award for the Humanities and Fine Arts, a biennial award that recognizes the best thesis from across the entire Indiana University system. Her thesis will be IU’s nominee for a regional graduate school organization competition, the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools 2022 Distinguished Thesis Award.