California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver recently announced that Aperture co-founder Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) will be inducted into The California Museum‘s California Hall of Fame on December 15th, 2008.

This group, which Gov. Schwarzenegger says “will inspire millions of their fellow Californians, and people all over the world, to dream, work, and achieve,” also includes Dave Brubeck, Jane Fonda, Theodor Geisel (“Dr. Seuss”), Robert Graham, Quincy Jones, Jack LaLanne, Julia Morgan, Jack Nicholson, Linus Pauling, Leland Stanford, and Alice Waters. Lange, along with the aforementioned inductees who made careers in the Golden State, will be joining fellow Aperture co-founder Ansel Adams, who was inducted last year.

Lange used her time away from her professional portrait studio in San Francisco to document the plight of the poor. Her work, which chronicles American history, includes images from the Great Depression, the internment of Japanese Americans, and post-war industrialism.

Lange’s most famous portrait, Migrant Mother, epitomizes Lange’s ability to capture emotion and translate it to imagery.  It is available to purchase from Aperture’s collection of limited-edition prints online here.

Congratulations to Dorothea Lange, and all of the inductees, for this incredible honor!