Notice of Dr. Margaret "Peggy" Downie Banks Passing

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our friend and colleague, Dr. Margaret Downie Banks.

Dr. Margaret Downie Banks

Margaret Ann Downie was born April 7, 1950, in Oneida, New York, to the late Edwin Downie and Lydia Jeserick Downie. She passed from this life on September 5, 2025.

Margaret began to be called Peggy (a diminutive of Margaret) by her father just days after her birth. Peggy grew up with an endless curiosity for history and love of music. She was an avid multi-instrumentalist, learning piano, organ, clarinet, violin, viola, and viola da gamba.

Initially considering becoming a music teacher, Peggy graduated from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education. During her master’s degree at the State University of New York – Binghamton, she undertook her first major work in organology, or the study of musical instruments. She was awarded a Master of Arts degree in Musicology in 1974, with her thesis entitled The Modern Greek Lyra: An Organological Study of the Lyra Collection of Sam Chianis. Peggy was working on her Doctoral degree when she was hired by Dr. Andre Larson, Director of the National Music Museum, in 1978, eventually completing the Ph.D. in Musicology with a minor in Anthropology from West Virginia University in 1981. Her dissertation, The Rebec, An Orthographic and Iconographic Study, is a landmark work in the study of that medieval musical instrument.

The NMM was only five years old as an organization when Peggy joined the staff. Early on, she took a teaching role in the graduate M.M. program, established the museum’s systematic and thorough cataloging processes, as well as taught and performed with the Collegium Musicum on period instruments. Peggy also held multiple important leadership roles with the American Musical Instrument Society, doing much of the behind-the-scenes work while AMIS was administratively supported by the museum.

While her career was flourishing in South Dakota, so was her personal life. She married the love of her life, Barry Banks, on her birthday in 1984. Their marriage was filled with love, religious faith, deep mutual support, and a shared playful and imaginative sense of humor.

Initially focused on the history of stringed instruments, Peggy expanded her scholarship to encompass the American musical instrument industry as a whole, and the C. G. Conn company in particular. Her interviews with early Conn workers in the 1980s preserved significant primary information about the company. In 1994 she organized the landmark exhibit Elkhart’s Brass Roots and wrote a catalog for it which is still highly valued on the collector market. She built relationships with companies like C.G. Conn and other instrument manufacturers. Her passion and influence convinced many companies to donate instruments and archives to the Museum, greatly expanding the NMM’s collection and reputation. She cultivated many private collectors of musical instruments, building a network of supporters for the Museum. In 2014 she received the highest honor in her academic field, the Curt Sachs Award from AMIS for her extensive contributions to scholarship,

Peggy cherished being in the classroom, teaching and mentoring students. For forty years, from 1978 to 2018, she taught graduate classes in organology and supervised graduate theses. Her teaching extended far beyond a USD classroom through numerous organological research projects, publishing scores of articles, and editing books. A little-known fact that furthered the museum’s outreach is that Peggy learned HTML coding in the early 1990s and created the NMM’s first website in 1996, serving as the organization’s web manager for over thirty years! This website was one of the first in the organological field and set a standard for thorough documentation and dissemination of information about instruments held in museums.

Peggy served as USD Professor of Music; Senior Curator of Musical Instruments and Associate Director for the NMM; and stepped in as Interim Director for a period of time. She was also devoted to the American Musical Instrument Society, presenting her first paper to the organization in 1976. In 1979 she was appointed Registrar, and in 1987 she was first appointed to the Board of Governors. Until recently she still had administrative control over the AMIS website and listserv.

In addition to her principal professional work, Peggy served as an organist for Vermillion First United Methodist Church. Her hobbies included collecting postcards (including Conn buildings and musical instruments!), curating family antiques, and researching genealogy. She enjoyed watching the friendly squirrels that dined at the Banks’ bird feeders on the front deck and in the backyard, and sharing her home with many plush bears, each of whom had their own distinctive personalities and entertaining backstories.

Peggy was preceded in death by her parents, Edwin and Lydia Downie, sisters Edelgard Prest and Irmgard Feola. She is survived her husband of 41 years, Barry Banks, nephews and nieces Thomas Feola, Patricia (Timothy) Leonard, Elizabeth “Libby” Feola, Pamela (Erik) Rini, Karen (Brian) Dolge, and Gayle (Cam) Tien.

Memorials can be made to the Peggy Banks Education Fund at the National Music Museum to benefit future students. Online memorials accepted here; checks can be mailed to: National Music Museum, 414 E. Clark Street, Vermillion, SD  57069

A service will be held to honor Peggy on Sunday, September 14, at 2:00 p.m. at Faith Fellowship Church, 1000 E. Highway 50, in Vermillion, SD.

Condolences can be sent to the family here.