Mary G. Keyes

Mary G. Keyes
Born
Mary Gertrude Keyes

February 24, 1904
Luray, Virginia, U.S.
DiedMay 8, 1984 (age 80)
Riverside, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Government researcher, chemist

Mary Gertrude Keyes (February 24, 1904 – May 8, 1984) was an American musician and research chemist based in Washington, D.C., and later in Riverside, California. She co-wrote papers with geologist Henry Stephens Washington in the 1920s.

Early life and education

Keyes was born in Luray, Virginia, the daughter of Charles Wesley Keyes and Mary Ela Zerkel Keyes.[1][2] Her father was an accountant, and her mother was a singer. Her grandfather Lemuel Zerkel was superintendent of Luray Caverns,[3] and her uncle Lemuel F. Zerkel was U.S. Park Commissioner at Shenandoah National Park.[4] Keyes studied violin and her sister Elizabeth trained as a harpist; the sisters performed as a chamber music ensemble in the 1920s,[5][6][7] and gave radio concerts together.[8][9]

Career

Keyes worked in the Petrographic Laboratory the United States Geological Survey as a young woman, preparing thin sections of rock samples for analysis.[10][11][12] She assisted Henry Stephens Washington in the geophysical laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington in the 1920s.[13][14] In addition to her work with Washington, Keyes analyzed samples for Reginald Aldworth Daly's "The Geology of Saint Helena Island" (1927), Bailey Willis's Studies in Comparative Seismology: Earthquake Conditions in Chile (1929) and other reports.[15][16][17]

In the 1940s Keyes was a scientific aide in the Division of Soil Chemistry and Physics in the United States Department of Agriculture. After World War II, she was a soil chemist on the staff of the Rubidoux Laboratory in Riverside, California.[18][19][20] She trained visiting agricultural scientists on techniques of water analysis, through a program supported by UNESCO.[2]

Publications

  • "Making thin sections of rocks" (1925)[12]
  • "The Lavas of Etna" (1926, with Henry S. Washington and M. Aurousseau)[21]
  • "Rocks of Eastern China" (1926, with Henry S. Washington)[22]
  • "Petrology of the Hawaiian Islands V: The Leeward Islands" (1926, with Henry S. Washington)
  • "Rocks of the Galápagos Islands" (1927, with Henry S. Washington)[23]
  • "Petrology of the Hawaiian Islands VI: Maui" (1928, with Henry S. Washington)[24]
  • "Soluble material of soils in relation to their classification and general fertility" (1942, with Myron Sallee Anderson and George W. Cromer)[25]
  • "Extraction of Auxin from Virgin Soils" (1942, with William S. Stewart and Myron Sallee Anderson)[26]
  • "An Index of the Tendency of CaCO3 to Precipitate from Irrigation Waters" (1965, with C. A. Bowers, L. V. Wilcox, and G. W. Akin)[27]

Personal life

Keyes moved to California with Eleanor Hall in the mid-1940s.[28] She died in 1984, at the age of 80, in Riverside, California, survived by her sister, Elizabeth Keyes Loewenstein.[29] Her nephew Jared Loewenstein was a librarian at the University of Virginia, known for building the school's collection of Jorge Luis Borges materials.[30] Her other nephew, Peter J. Loewenstein, was a vice president at National Public Radio.[31]

References

  1. ^ "Charles Wesley Keyes (death notice)". Evening star. 1939-01-22. p. 12. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  2. ^ a b "Miss Keyes Visiting Here". Page News and Courier. August 25, 1960. pp. 8B – via Virginia Chronicle.
  3. ^ "Lemuel Zerkel and Wife". Page News and Courier. August 24, 1937. p. 6 – via Virginia Chronicle.
  4. ^ "Lemuel F. Zerkel, 76, Park Director at Shenandoah". Evening star. 1962-04-18. p. 28. Retrieved 2024-09-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "String Ensemble at Broad Street". Richmond Times-Dispatch. 1927-04-02. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-09-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Local Girls Present Concert in Kensington". Evening star. 1927-05-08. p. 73. Retrieved 2024-09-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Musicgraphs". Evening star. 1927-04-03. p. 71. Retrieved 2024-09-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Local Radio Entertainment". Evening Star. 1924-09-26. p. 38. Retrieved 2024-09-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Radio Programs". The Baltimore Sun. 1927-04-18. p. 14. Retrieved 2024-09-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Vivo, Benedetto De; Belkin, Harvey E.; Rolandi, Giuseppe (2019-10-11). Vesuvius, Campi Flegrei, and Campanian Volcanism. Elsevier. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-0-12-817518-7.
  11. ^ "Locals". Page News and Courier. February 26, 1926. p. 1 – via Virginia Chronicle.
  12. ^ a b Keyes, M. G. (1925-12-01). "Making thin sections of rocks". American Journal of Science. s5-10 (60): 538–550. doi:10.2475/ajs.s5-10.60.538. ISSN 0002-9599.
  13. ^ Carnegie Institution of Washington (1925). Staff of Investigators.
  14. ^ Carnegie Institution of Washington (1928). Year Book. Carnegie Institution of Washington. p. 83.
  15. ^ Daly, Reginald A. (March 1927). "The Geology of Saint Helena Island". Daedalus. 62 (2): 65, 66, 67, 69 – via Internet Archive.
  16. ^ Willis, Bailey (1929). Studies in comparative seismology; earthquake conditions in Chile. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington. p. 173.
  17. ^ Newhouse, W. H.; Glass, J. P. (November 1936). "Some Physical Properties of Certain Iron Oxides". Economic Geology. 31 (7): 701. doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.31.7.699 – via Internet Archive.
  18. ^ Regional Salinity Laboratory (U.S.) (1950). Report to Collaborators. U.S. Regional Salinity Laboratory.
  19. ^ Directory of Organization and Field Activities of the Department of Agriculture, 1947. U.S. Department of Agriculture. 1948. p. 55.
  20. ^ "Housewarming Given for Couple". Riverside Daily Press. 1948-01-23. p. 11. Retrieved 2024-09-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Washington, H. S., M. Aurousseau, Mary G. Keyes. "The Lavas of Etna" The American Journal of Science 12(1926): 371-408.
  22. ^ Washington, H. S.; Keyes, Mary G. (1926). "Rocks of Eastern China". Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 16 (11): 291–301. ISSN 0043-0439. JSTOR 24529198.
  23. ^ Washington, H. S.; Keyes, Mary G. (1927). "Rocks of the Galápagos Islands". Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 17 (21): 538–543. ISSN 0043-0439. JSTOR 24522516.
  24. ^ Washington, Henry S., and Mary G. Keyes, "Petrology of the Hawaiian Islands VI: Maui" The American Journal of Science 15(April 1928): 199-220.
  25. ^ Anderson, Myron Sallee, Mary G. Keyes, and George W. Cromer. "Soluble material of soils in relation to their classification and general fertility." Technical Bulletin, United States Department of Agriculture 813(June 1942).
  26. ^ Stewart, William S., Mary G. Keyes, and M. S. Anderson. "Extraction of auxin from virgin soils." Soil Science 53, no. 4 (1942): 299-308.
  27. ^ Bower, C. A.; Wilcox, L. V.; Akin, G. W.; Keyes, Mary G. (January 1965). "An Index of the Tendency of CaCO3 to Precipitate from Irrigation Waters". Soil Science Society of America Journal. 29 (1): 91–92. doi:10.2136/sssaj1965.03615995002900010027x. ISSN 0361-5995.
  28. ^ "What Monrovians are Doing". Monrovia News-Post. 1945-10-22. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-09-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Elizabeth Keyes Loewenstein". The Daily Progress. 1987-12-10. p. 26. Retrieved 2024-09-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ Rathbone, Emma. "Borges in Charlottesville: How the work of a Latin-American literary giant found a home at UVA". Virginia Magazine. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  31. ^ "CPB names NPR's Peter Loewenstein Recipient of 2002 Murrow Award". Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 2018-12-14. Retrieved 2024-09-07.