Dorothy Hamilton Brush

Dorothy Hamilton Brush (March 14, 1894 – June 4, 1968) was a birth control advocate, women's rights advocate and author. She worked with Margaret Sanger and the birth control movement and wrote plays, travel articles, and books (the latter with Walter S. Hayward.)

Early life and education Dorothy Hamilton Brush was born to Walter James Hamilton and Mary Jane Adams on March 14, 1894. She had two sisters, Gladys and Margaret, the latter of whom went on to become an actress most famous for portraying the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where Brush would attend Hathaway Brown School.

Brush graduated form Smith College in 1917 where she served as a delegate in New York to the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) Silver Bay Camp. She also acted as a house president, a student advisor, and participated in clubs and societies, such as the Alpha Society, Il Tricolore, Blue Pencil, and the Debating Union. As she was on an editing staff, Brush would work on various college publications such as the Monthly Board, the Weekly Board, and the Class Book Board, and would also write short stories. During her junior year of college, Brush acted as class historians and wrote the "History of Junior Year" in the 1917 yearbook, as well as the words for the Ivy Song and for "Alma Mater."

Career From 1917 to 1919, Dorothy worked for various charities in Washington, D.C., and then in Sheffield, Alabama, as he first husband, Charles, served in the Ordinance Officers' Reserve Corp of the Army as a first lieutenant, after which the couple would travel around the world, even stopping in Honolulu, Hawaii, before returning to the United States and settling in Cleveland, Ohio, where Charles established the Brush Research Laboratory. Brush suffered herself during these years and many years before from emphysema and other maladies, and her travel and activities were often restricted.

Works Plays

One-Eye, Two-Eye and Three-Eye: A Puppet Play for Children in Three Acts (1929) New York: Samuel French The Poor Little Turkey Girl: A Play of Pueblo Indian Folk-Lore (1928) New York: Samuel French

Books

The American People: A Popular History of the United States, 1865 - 1941 (1943) New York: Sheridan House [with Walter Sumner Hayward] Your Land & My Land: The American People from Lincoln to Roosevelt (1943) New York: Sheridan House [with Walter Sumner Hayward]