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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Bowditch, Nancy Douglas, 1890-1979  Search this
Interviewer:
Brown, Robert F  Search this
Subject:
Brush, George de Forest  Search this
Faulkner, Barry  Search this
Pearmain, William Robert  Search this
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus  Search this
Thayer, Abbott Handerson  Search this
Twain, Mark  Search this
Volk, Douglas  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
New Hampshire
Physical Description:
28 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 1 hr., 38 min.
Access Note / Rights:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Summary:
An interview of Nancy Douglas Bowditch conducted 1974 January 30, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Bowditch speaks of her memories of early childhood; her father, George de Forest Brush, and his work; her relationship with her father; and her education and upbringing. She reminisces about Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Abbott H. Thayer, who were family friends, and their relationships with Brush; her family's home life, their travels in Europe; her family's relationship with Samuel Clemens and family; and her first husband, William Robert Pearmain, his family background, their marriage, his involvement with organized labor and social reform, and his early death from leukemia. She also recalls Douglas Volk and Barry Faulkner.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Nancy Douglas Bowditch, 1974 January 30. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Transcript available online.
Funding:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Biography Note:
Nancy Bowditch (1890-1979) was a painter, a playwright, and costume and set designer. Bowditch was born in Paris, the second eldest child of painter George de Forest Brush. Brush made the artist-colony of Dublin, N.H. his American home, where Mark Twain and daughter Jean Clemens were neighbors. They spent considerable time in Paris and Italy. Nancy married William Robert Pearmain, a childhood neighbor and later, a pupil of her father, in 1909. Pearmain died of leukemia in 1912. Subsequently, she married Dr. Harold Bowditch whose father was instrumental in the development of Harvard University Medical School.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Women artists  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Women designers  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Art, American  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)11972
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)212539
AAA_collcode_bowdit74
Theme:
Women
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_212539