Nancy Douglas Bowditch

Nancy Douglas Bowditch
Born Nancy Douglas Brush
(1890-07-04)July 4, 1890
Paris, France
Died May 1, 1979(1979-05-01) (aged 88)
Peterborough, New Hampshire
Nationality United States
Other names Mrs. Harold Bowditch,
Nancy Brush, Nancy Pearmain
Known for Speaker, writer, illustrator, costumer
Religion unstated until joining the Bahá'í Faith, 1929–1979
Spouse(s) William Robert Pearmain (1909–1912),
Harold Bowditch (1916–1964)

Nancy Douglas Bowditch, also known as Mrs. Harold Bowditch, was born Nancy Brush, (July 4, 1890, Paris France – May 1, 1979, Peterborough, New Hampshire),[1] daughter of George de Forest Brush and the family was neighbors and friends with Samuel Clemens and his daughter Jean Clemens, who died about 1909. She met and married William Robert Pearmain, had a daughter and he unexpectedly deceased some months after the family met `Abdu'l-Bahá, then head of the Bahá'í Faith. She then married Harold Bowditch a few years later. She became involved in costume work for plays but sought spiritual concerns and found the religion in 1926, joining in 1929, going on Bahá'í pilgrimage and serving her years in communities and in the arts inside and outside the religion's community. She was elected as Chair of the Boston Spiritual Assembly, the local governing council of the religion, in 1931 and to the first local assembly of Peterborough, New Hampshire, among the Bahá'ís of Greater Boston.

Early years

Nancy Douglas Bowditch, also known as Mrs. Harold Bowditch, was born Nancy Brush, (July 4, 1890, Paris France - May 1, 1979, Peterborough, New Hampshire),[1] daughter of George de Forest Brush, who was active in Dublin, New Hampshire as well Europe,[1][2][3] and (Mary)[4] Mittie Taylor (Whelpley) Brush, was a sculptor, inventor and pioneering aviator.[5]

In Dublin the family was neighbors and close friends with Samuel Clemens and his daughter Jean Clemens, who died about 1909, and then the Clemens moved away.[6] Nancy met William Robert Pearmain in America in 1906[1] and he followed her in 1907 to Europe.[7][8] They married in 1909, she betrothed as "Nancy Douglas",[9] and he a student of her father's. They had a daughter born May 1911.[10] The Brush family interacted with `Abdu'l-Bahá and the Bahá'ís in the area in July and August 1912, especially during an annual out-of-doors play as well he visited their farm.[1][11][12] Pearmain died unexpectedly in September.[13] Nancy moved from place to place until she married Harvard graduate[14] Dr. Harold Bowditch in October 1916.[1][14]

Spiritual search

Bowditch became more involved with costume work for theatre productions.[1] While her life was going well she also felt “something was wanting in my existence and couldn’t put a finger on… I then began to seek for that missing link, going to most every church and attending various meetings.…(and) hearing of a meeting to be held in Boston about the Bahá’í Faith.”[1]

“I’ll never forget entering the large hall and seeing around me such a different type of gathering from the usual Boston crowd. Here were both rich and poor, along with every race. Many were black. I listened to a wonderful talk on the Faith by Mr. Harry Randall and was so thrilled! Afterwards I made my way straight to the table where books were being sold in order to learn more about the subject. I picked out as many as could be comfortably carried home on the streetcar, then found to my dismay that I didn’t have enough money with which to pay for them! The person at the book stand told me it was all right to take them home and pay at the next meeting.”[1]

This may have been an event the Boston Bahá’í community hosted called a “World Unity Conference” in 1926 as part of a series sponsored by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and covered in the Boston Evening Transcript.[15] Randall helped organize and spoke at it.[16] The first day long meeting was held at Steinert Hall, the second at the Second Unitarian Church, and third at the Church of the Redemption where Randall chaired the day. She then credits Randall, Louise Drake Wright and her sister Mrs. George Nelson as aiding her inquiry into the religion while she read books like Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era.[1] She officially joined the religion in 1929.[1] She was visible in the 1930 Race Amity Convention held at Green Acre,[17] by then an established conference center of the religion, and left on Bahá'í pilgrimage in late March 1931 with her then 19 yr old daughter.[1] They spent three weeks in the area of Haifa and left by way of Jerusalem taking in Christian paths of pilgrimage.[1] She then attended the 1931 national convention of the Bahá'ís in the United States reporting on events in Boston as the Chair of the Boston Assembly.[18] She wrote of her pilgrimage in Star of the West in July 1931.[19] and spoke of it in August.[20]

Arts and services

Bowditch would continue working with the religion with occasional gaps in public mention. Bowditch repeated her activity at the Green Acre Race Amity conference in 1934[21] including an event at her home.[22] In 1936 she assisted in World Order magazine publications with some cover art.[23] In 1937 she offered a talk for the summer program at Green Acre that also dedicated a new hall.[24] In 1938 she took up residence in a summer studio at Green Acre[25] and ran a program on art for the school.[26] In 1939 she was on a national radio committee for the religion.[27] There is a break in visible activity in 1940 and her father died April 24, 1941,[1] but she was again involved at Green Acre in July 1941 for a pageant.[28] After another year gap in activity she was on the centenrary committee of 1943-44,[29] to commemorate the founding of the religion in 1844. In Portsmouth she offered a program at the Bahá'í library about her pilgrimage,[30] as well as at Green Acre.[31] She was on the maintenance committee for Green Acre across 1945–1947.[32] In Teaneck, New Jersey she offered a program for youth on dramatizations of the religion,[33] and her poem "The Song of Tahirih" was published in July 1947 World Order magazine.[34] In 1948 she was listed as the corresponding secretary of the Bahá'í group of Brookline, Massachusetts,[35] and offered a program in nearby Hamilton, Massachusetts.[36] Her mother died in 1949.[37] In 1950 she published a play "The desert tent: An Easter play in three episodes".[38]

In 1953 Bowditch was noted helping a Portsmouth community pageant,[39] and her family moved to Peterborough, New Hampshire in the south of the state in 1959,[40] attended the 1963 Bahá'í World Congress with her husband and a granddaughter,[1] and in 1965 Bowditch is pictured on the first local Spiritual Assembly of Brookline, the local administrative organization of the religion.[41]

Retirement years

Harold died in August 1964 and their home at 12 Pine Street became the official Bahá'í Center of the community in 1967 at which Guy Murchie gave a talk for the opening ceremony.[1] In 1968 Bowditch donated a number of materials to the Library of Harvard Medical School from her husband's collection.[42] She also began to donate materials to the Archives of American Art in several installments between 1968 and 1979.[43]

In 1970 she was at the official presentation of a Bahá'í book to then Governor Walter R. Peterson, Jr.[44] and published a book on her father.[45] In 1971 she gave a talk about meeting `Abdu'l-Baha.[46]

In 1972 she was noted by Portsmouth Friends of the Library,[47] spoke at Meriden, Connecticut on her memory of meeting `Abdu'l-Bahá,[48] and aided in costumes for play at Keene State College.[49]

She died May 1, 1979[1] and a posthumously published memoir, "The Artist's Daughter: Memoirs 1890-1979" was printed with the aide of her grandchildren.[1]

Her great-nephew is politician Lincoln Chafee.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Nancy Douglas Bowditch (15 February 2015). The Artist's Daughter: Memoirs 1890-1979. One Voice Press, LLC. ISBN 978-1-940135-23-6.
  2. ↑ Nancy Bowditch; Robert Brown (January 19, 1974). "Oral history interview with Nancy Douglas Bowditch". Archives of American Art. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  3. ↑ Ann Lee Morgan Former Visiting Assistant Professor University of Illinois at Chicago (27 June 2007). The Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists. Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 65–66. ISBN 978-0-19-802955-7.
  4. ↑ Nancy Douglas Bowditch. "Family of George deForest Brush". Archives of American Art. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  5. ↑ "St Joan". Graphic Arts Collection within the department of Rare Books and Special Collections. October 19, 2014. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  6. ↑ Karen Lystra (1 August 2006). Dangerous Intimacy: The Untold Story of Mark Twain's Final Years. University of California Press. pp. 47–49, 62–91, 111–129, 140, 272. ISBN 978-0-520-25000-0.
  7. ↑ "Bowditch, Nancy Douglas". Social networks and archive content, Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities. Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Nancy Brush and William Robert Pearmain". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. August 1, 1907. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Biographical Information: Bowditch, Nancy Douglas". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. 1909. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  10. ↑ Nancy Bowditch (1975) [1909]. "A Brief Biography of Robert Pearmain, 1888-1912". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  11. ↑ Phillip E. Tussing (2007). "Finishing the Work:`Abdu'l-Bahá in Dublin, New Hampshire, 1912". Bahai-Library.com. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  12. ↑ Morella Menon; Jonathan Menon (July 30, 2012). Jonathan Menon; Shahin Sobhani, eds. "George De Forest Brush, "Lover of Indians"". 239 Days in America; a social media documentary. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  13. ↑ William Morgan (2011). Monadnock Summer: The Architectural Legacy of Dublin, New Hampshire. David R. Godine Publisher. pp. 71–3. ISBN 978-1-56792-422-0.
  14. 1 2 "Marriages". The Harvard Graduates' Magazine 25 (49): 447. March 1917. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Timeline of the Bahá’í Faith in Greater Boston" (PDF). Pluralism.org. Jan 28, 2010. Archived from the original (pdf) on April 4, 2015. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  16. ↑ Ruth Wales Randall (Feb 1927). "The Hour of Unity". Star of the West 17 (11). pp. 339–342. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ "Second New England District Conference". Baha'i News (50). April 1931. p. 4. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  19. ↑
    • Nancy Bowditch (July 1931). "A visit to Bahji". Star of the West 22 (4). pp. 106–111. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
    • Nancy Bowditch (1930). "A Visit to Bahji". Baha'i World. pp. 411–416.
  20. ↑ "Green Acre revised program". Baha'i News (54). Aug 1931. p. 6. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  21. ↑
  22. ↑ "From a report sent by…". Baha'i News (94). Aug 1935. pp. 2–3. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  23. ↑
  24. ↑ "Conference at new Bahai Hall". The Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, New Hampshire). 3 Jul 1937. p. 4. Retrieved 13 Jun 2015.
  25. ↑ "Takes studio at Green Acre". The Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, New Hampshire). 11 Jul 1938. p. 10. Retrieved 13 Jun 2015.
  26. ↑ "Green Acre News". Baha'i News (117). July 1938. p. 2. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  27. ↑ "National Committees; Radio". Baha'i News (127). July 1939. p. 6. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Baha'i school programs 1941". Baha'i News (144). May 1941. pp. 13–14. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  29. ↑ Edna M True (Dec 1944). "Centenary Committee 1943-1944". Baha'i News (172). pp. 11–13. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  30. ↑
  31. ↑ "Baha'i school opens in Eliot for Summer". The Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, New Hampshire). 10 Jul 1944. p. 2. Retrieved 22 Jan 2014.
  32. ↑
  33. ↑ "Youth on the march". Baha'i New (196). June 1947. pp. 5–6. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  34. ↑ "Contents of July World Order". Baha'i News (197). June 1947. p. 11. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  35. ↑ "Directory additions & changes". Baha'i News (266). April 1948. p. 12. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  36. ↑ "Hamilton, Mass.". Baha'i News (214). Dec 1948. p. 8. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  37. ↑ "Mrs. Millei Brush". Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire). 30 Jul 1949. p. 2. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  38. ↑ Nancy Douglas Bowditch (1950). The Desert Tent. Baker's Plays.
  39. ↑
  40. ↑ "New addresses" (PDF). The News Massachusetts General Hospital (188) (Boston Mass.). October 1959. p. 11. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  41. ↑ "Local spiritual assembly of Petersborough". Baha'i News (413). August 1965. p. 14. Retrieved 13 Jun 2015.
  42. ↑ "Battle-scarred: Caring for the Sick and Wounded of the Civil War". The Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine: An Alliance of the Boston Medical Library and Harvard Medical School. 2015. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  43. ↑ "Nancy Douglas Bowditch and Brush Family papers, circa 1860-1985". Archives of American Art. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  44. ↑ "Baha'i Presentation". The Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, New Hampshire). 5 Aug 1970. p. 5. Retrieved 13 Jun 2015.
  45. ↑ Nancy Douglas Bowditch (1970). George de Forest Brush: recollections of a joyous painter. Noone House.
  46. ↑ "Baha'is hear talks on Founder's son". The Morning Record (Meriden Connecticut). Nov 29, 1971. p. 2. Retrieved 13 Jun 2015.
  47. ↑ "Frank MacDonald elected to heard Library Friends". The Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, New Hampshire). 17 Feb 1972. p. 17. Retrieved 13 Jun 2015.
  48. ↑ "Observances of the Ascension of `Abdu'l-Bahá". Baha'i News (497). September 1972. p. 6. Retrieved 13 Jun 2015.
  49. ↑ "Keene State College". Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire). 1 Nov 1972. p. 33. Retrieved 13 Jun 2015.
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