The first floor gallery of the University of Iowa's Old Capitol Museum has been renamed the Keyes Gallery for Arts, Humanities, and Sciences in honor of Margaret N. Keyes and in memory of Charles R. Keyes.
Margaret Keyes is UI professor emeritus of home economics and nationally recognized leader in historic preservation, including the restoration of Iowa's original state capitol, which is now the Old Capitol Museum. The late Charles Keyes, her father, was director of the Iowa Archaeological Survey and has been called the founding father of Iowa archaeology.
Margaret Keyes was honored Monday, May 13, at a luncheon hosted by the UI Pentacrest Museums.
"The Old Capitol Museum was preserved as the iconic centerpiece of the University of Iowa—and is now one of Iowa's best museums—thanks in large part to Margaret Keyes' efforts," says John Logsdon, director of Pentacrest Museums and UI professor of biology. "We will always be indebted to her, so naming this prominent space in her honor is a fitting and proper tribute. Likewise, we are also pleased to honor the memory and legacy of her father and all that he accomplished during a life so well lived."
Margaret Naumann Keyes attended Cornell College, earning a bachelor’s degree in home economics in 1939. In 1951, she earned a master’s degree in related art from UI, after which she joined the UI Department of Home Economics as a faculty member.
In 1961, she took a leave of absence from her position at Iowa to enroll in a graduate program at Florida State University, where she completed her doctorate in historic preservation in 1965. Her dissertation, Nineteenth Century Home Architecture of Iowa City, was published a year later, coinciding with her return to the UI. Her book is available in the Old Capitol Museum gift shop.
During her tenure at Iowa, Keyes taught a variety of courses including textile design and historic interiors. In the 1970s and 1980s, she led Iowa’s drive to preserve and renovate the state historic structures, including her most important work, the restoration of Old Capitol. She published Old Capitol: Portrait of a Landmark (University of Iowa Press), which details her research findings and restoration accomplishments from that effort.
Charles Rueben Keyes was an educator, archaeologist, ornithologist, and professor of German language and literature at Cornell College (1903-1941) and director of the Iowa Archaeological Survey (1922-1951). His personal surveys and work for the State Historical Society of Iowa resulted in the accumulation of more than 108,000 artifacts and a correspondingly large set of notes, photographs, maps, correspondence, manuscripts, and memorabilia now known as the Keyes Archaeological Collection.
Shortly after his death, Smithsonian Institution archaeologist Waldo R. Wedel described the Keyes Collection as “the largest and most comprehensive extant assemblage of Iowa archaeological materials.” (Modified from the Biographical Dictionary of Iowa)
The Keyes Gallery for Arts, Humanities, and Sciences occupies prime space in Old Capitol on the main floor directly adjacent to the front entrance of the building. Historically, the space housed the original Iowa Secretary of State's office (1842-1857), the office of the secretary to the UI president (1860-1969), the museum reception room (1976-2001) and the Old Capitol Museum gift shop (2006-2010).
The gallery has featured many traveling exhibits since opening in 2011, including “Maize: Mysteries of an Ancient Grain”, “Faces of the Southern Ocean," and “Unconditional Loyalty: The Military Service of African Americans." The gallery has also housed multiple in-house exhibits including “Toys of the 20th Century” and “Insects: A Collection in Multiple Dimensions.” Also featured were collaborations with other university departments including “Napoleon: The Art of Propaganda” with the UI Museum of Art, and “Iowa’s Ice Age Giants” with the UI Museum of Natural History and Paleontology Repository, currently displayed through Aug. 4.
The Keyes Gallery for Arts, Humanities, and Sciences provides excellent opportunities to strengthen ties between disciplines on the UI campus, including those between the Pentacrest Museums (UI Museum of Natural History and the Old Capitol Museum) while generally enhancing intersecting themes of art, humanities, and science.
Members of the public and those who served at the UI during the Keyes' tenure are encouraged to enhance the endowment with additional gifts honoring Margaret and Charles Keyes and by providing additional support for exhibits in the Keyes Gallery.
For more information on the UI Pentacrest Museums and Old Capitol Museum, visit www.uiowa.edu/oldcap/ or call 319-335-0548.