Nancy Douglas Bowditch

Nancy Douglas Bowditch (July 4, 1890 – May 1, 1979) was an American artist, author, costumer and set designer. The daughter of painter George de Forest Brush, she produced a biography of him in 1970, and her own memoirs published posthumously. She was married firstly to the artist William Robert Pearmain, and later to Dr. Harold Bowditch.

She became involved in costume work for plays but sought spiritual concerns and found the Baháʼí Faith in 1926, going on Baháʼí pilgrimage and serving in the arts inside and outside the religion's community She was active in the Baháʼí Faith community of Greater Boston, elected as Chair of the Boston Spiritual Assembly and later to the first local assembly of Peterborough, New Hampshire.

Early years Nancy Douglas Bowditch, was born Nancy Brush in Paris on July 4, 1890, daughter of painter George de Forest Brush, and Mary "Mittie" Taylor (Whelpley) Brush, a sculptor and inventor.

In Dublin the family were neighbors and close friends with Samuel Clemens and his daughter Jean Clemens, who died about 1909, and then the Clemens moved away. Nancy met William Robert Pearmain in America in 1906 They married in 1909, she betrothed as "Nancy Douglas", and he a student of her father's. They had a daughter born May 1911. The Brush family interacted with ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and the Baháʼís in the area in July and August 1912, especially during an annual out-of-doors play as well he visited their farm. Pearmain died unexpectedly in September. Nancy moved from place to place until she married Harvard graduate Dr. Harold Bowditch in October 1916.

Spiritual search Bowditch became more involved with costume work for theatre productions. Randall helped organize and spoke at it. 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 Baháʼu'lláh and the New Era. by then an established conference center of the religion, and left on Baháʼí pilgrimage in late March 1931 with her then 19 yr old daughter. She wrote of her pilgrimage in Star of the West in July 1931. and spoke of it in August.

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 including an event at her home. In 1936 she assisted in World Order magazine publications with some cover art. In 1937 she offered a talk for the summer program at Green Acre that also dedicated a new hall. In 1938 she took up residence in a summer studio at Green Acre and ran a program on art for the school. In 1939 she was on a national radio committee for the religion. There is a break in visible activity in 1940 and her father died April 24, 1941, After another year gap in activity she was on the centenary committee of 1943-44, to commemorate the founding of the religion in 1844. In Portsmouth she offered a program at the Baháʼí library about her pilgrimage, as well as at Green Acre. She was on the maintenance committee for Green Acre across 1945–1947. In Teaneck, New Jersey she offered a program for youth on dramatizations of the religion, and her poem "The Song of Tahirih" was published in July 1947 World Order . In 1948 she was listed as the corresponding secretary of the Baháʼí group of Brookline, Massachusetts, and offered a program in nearby Hamilton, Massachusetts. Her mother died in 1949. In 1950 she published a play The Desert Tent: An Easter Play in Three Episodes.

In 1953 Bowditch was noted helping a Portsmouth community pageant, and her family moved to Peterborough, New Hampshire in the south of the state in 1959, attended the 1963 Baháʼí World Congress with her husband and a granddaughter,

Retirement years Harold died in August 1964 and their home at 12 Pine Street became the official Baháʼí Center of the community in 1967 at which Guy Murchie gave a talk for the opening ceremony. She also began to donate materials to the Archives of American Art in several installments between 1968 and 1979.

In 1970 she was at the official presentation of a Baháʼí book to then Governor Walter R. Peterson, Jr. and published a book on her father. In 1971 she gave a talk about meeting ʻAbdu'l-Baha.

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

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