Based on Ray Boomhower's regular column in "Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History" by the same name, "Destination Indiana" highlights many of the beautiful and fascinating public historic sites located throughout Indiana and the many people who brought these places prominence. Boomhower joins forces with notable Indianapolis photographer Darryl Jones to bring to life 25 historic sites as diverse as the James Whitcomb Riley home, the Indiana Medical History Museum, New Harmony, T. C. Steele State Historic Site, and the General Lew Wallace Study. Each essay offers a wealth of carefully researched information and striking photos with which to better understand and appreciate each of these historically rich sites.
Ray E. Boomhower is senior editor of the Indiana Historical Society's quarterly popular history magazine Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History. Boomhower has been with the Society since 1987, beginning work for the statewide, nonprofit organization as its public relations coordinator.
A native of Mishawaka, Indiana, Boomhower graduated from Indiana University in 1982 with degrees in journalism and political science. He received his master's degree in U.S. history from Indiana University, Indianapolis, in 1995. Before joining the Society staff, he worked in public relations for the Indiana State Museum and as a reporter for two Indiana daily newspapers, the Rensselaer Republican and the Anderson Herald.
In 1999 Boomhower received the Hoosier Historian award from the Indiana Historical Society. His book on Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Democratic presidential primary won the 2009 Best Books of Indiana competition in the nonfiction category sponsored by the Indiana Center for the Book, and his other works have been finalists in the annual Benjamin Franklin Awards from the Independent Book Publishers Association. In 2010 he was named as the winner of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award in the regional category.
