By Susan Morée, NM Political Report
The U.S. Department of Interior announced the designation of the Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth House and Studios in San Patricio as a National Historic Landmark.
Wyeth and Hurd were painters who built artist studios in the 1930s on a ranch outside San Patricio, where they continued to work until their deaths in the late 20th century, according to the site’s website. Hurd was originally from Roswell. Wyeth was an accomplished portrait painter originally from Pennsylvania.
The announcement was a part of President Joe Biden’s executive order to provide greater recognition to women’s history in national parks and historic landmarks across the U.S. to honor the legacy and contributions of women and girls to the nation, according to the news release.
Biden signed the executive order in Newcastle, Maine at a signing ceremony establishing the Frances Perkins National Monument to honor the first woman U.S. cabinet secretary. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed Perkins to be the U.S. Secretary of Labor in 1933, according to the Frances Perkins Center.
U.S. Secretary Deb Haaland, who’s from Laguna Pueblo, attended the signing ceremony with Biden.
“I am grateful to President Biden for taking this step to ensure that current and future generations will learn about [Frances Perkins’] body of work,” Haaland said in a statement.
Haaland also announced four additional new National Historic Landmarks recognizing women’s history on Monday. They are The Charleston Cigar Factory in Charleston, South Carolina, The Furies Collective and Lucy Diggs Stowe and Mary Burrill House, both in Washington, D.C. and the Azurest South in Petersburg, Virginia.