13 Facts About Barnaby Keeney

Barnaby Conrad Keeney was president of Brown University from 1955 to 1966.

Barnaby Keeney was known and loved by the student body for openness and his dry wit.

Barnaby Keeney was born in Halfway, Oregon on October 17,1914.

Barnaby Keeney grew up in Hartford, Connecticut where he was a high school track star.

Barnaby Keeney graduated from the University of North Carolina first in his class in 1936.

Barnaby Keeney later took a master's degree and doctorate in medieval history at Harvard University, where he taught until 1941.

Barnaby Keeney died on June 18,1980, in Providence, Rhode Island, at the age of 65.

Barnaby Keeney was hired by Brown University in 1946 as an assistant professor of history.

Barnaby Keeney was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1957.

Barnaby Keeney was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1965.

Barnaby Keeney served as the first Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1966 to 1970.

In 1963, Barnaby Keeney served as Chair of the National Commission on the Humanities, organized by the American Council of Learned Societies, the Council of Graduate Schools in America, and the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa and tasked with studying "the state of the humanities in America".

President Lyndon B Johnson, who delivered a speech at Brown on federal support for higher education later that year, lent his support to the idea of creating a foundation for the humanities and chose Keeney to be its first Chair.