Barbara Raeder Palmer was on campus during the time Christian Peterson was a sculptor-in-residence, but she never really paid attention to his work. More than 50 years later, Palmer is donating $250,000 to the Morrill Hall renovation, specifically the Christian Petersen Art Museum, to continue the legacy of the peer she didn’t pay attention to while attending Iowa State.

“I wasn’t in the art world then,” Palmer said. “In the early 70s we’d always enjoy going to museums and about that time we found out we could buy some of these things.”

Since then, the Palmers, Barbara, 78, and her late husband James, have collected many fine pieces of artwork and have become active in the art museum at Penn State, which is named after them.

Barbara Raeder Palmer graduated in home economics in 1946, and James graduated in electrical engineering in 1944, Palmer said. They met while attending Iowa State.

The Palmers have also been significant contributors to Iowa State, said Jason Menke, assistant director of communications for the ISU Foundation.

“[The Palmers] certainly have given to Iowa State generously in many areas; in art, in engineering, and in family and consumer sciences,” Menke said.

This particular pledge of $250,000 is one of the largest contributions for the Morrill Hall campaign to date, he said.

Palmer said although she never had any classes in Morrill Hall, she believes it is an important part of Iowa State.

“It’s an important part of the history of campus,” she said. “It should be preserved.”

Palmer said having an art collection on campus seemed like a good idea.

“I hope [the collection] brings a lot of students,” she said. “Brunnier is an excellent museum.”

The Christian Petersen Art Museum will be a good opportunity to enjoy the artwork and attract students’ interest to the artwork, Palmer said.

Christian Petersen was the nation’s first permanent artist in residence.

He began at Iowa State in 1933, and was active until his retirement in 1955, said Lynette Pohlman, director of the University Museums.

Petersen created 12 major works of art on campus, most notably the fountain of the Four Seasons, found outside of the Memorial Union, Pohlman said. There are currently 800 drawings and sculptures by Petersen that are housed in the Brunnier Art Museum.

The new facility in Morrill Hall will be an exhibition space for the collection. The space will be used to enhance visual learning for students, particularly those in their freshman and sophomore year, Pohlman said.

“It will be an art program to service all students in all colleges,” she said.

The ISU Foundation has currently raised $4.6 million of the $9 million goal, Menke said. $850,000 of the current tally is a sum from the Iowa legislature used for building general purpose classrooms. The remaining amount of the tally has come from private donations, Menke said.