Art historian recognized twice over

The work of art historian Elizabeth Boone was recently recognized at home and abroad with two prestigious honors. Boone, the Martha and Donald Robertson Chair in Latin American Art, is a newly elected member to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Mexican Academy of History.

Recognized by her peers in both the U.S. and Mexico, art historian Elizabeth Boone studies pictography left by the Aztecs and their neighbors in early Mexico. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)

As a fellow of the AAAS, Boone joins some of the world's accomplished leaders in academia, business, public affairs, the humanities and the arts. Boone said she feels “enormously honored” by the election.

Founded in 1780, the academy is one of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research. Members of the 2012 class include Debra A. Fischer, who helped discover more than 200 planetary systems; Robert P. Colwell, chief architect of Intel's Pentium microprocessors; Griffin P. Rodgers, whose research contributed to the first effective therapy for sickle cell anemia; Hillary Clinton; Neil Simon; Clint Eastwood; Mel Brooks; Paul McCartney and others.

Boone's election to the Mexican Academy of History is especially noteworthy. She is one of its few members from the United States and one of its few female members. Founded in 1919 as an affiliate of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, the Mexican Academy preserves and promotes that nation's cultural heritage.

“It's one thing to be recognized in the U.S. by your colleagues, but it also means a great deal to be recognized by historians in the country where you work,” Boone said.

She is a specialist in the pre-Columbian and early colonial art of Latin America, with an emphasis on Mexico.

Tulane “is a wonderful university in which to do the things that I do,” Boone said, because of its concentration of Latin American studies and its prominent Latin American Library.