Marshall Bowman Davidson (26 April 1907 – 8 August 1989) was a historian and American culture writer. He was the author, co-author or editor of over twenty-five books and served as an editor of and contributor to ''Horizon'' and ''American Heritage'' magazines.

Biography

Bowman was born in the Fordham neighborhood of

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York City. His older brother was

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Lieutenant General

Garrison H. Davidson Garrison Holt Davidson (April 24, 1904 – December 25, 1992) was a United States Army officer, combat engineer, commander, and military educator from the 1920s through World War II and into the Cold War-era. Commissioned as one of the youngest ...

and his uncle was motion picture actor Jack Holt. Bowman attended

Townsend Harris Hall Townsend Harris Hall Prep School was a public preparatory school located in Manhattan in New York City. History The school is named for Townsend Harris, who besides his many diplomatic accomplishments, had helped found the Free Academy of the ...

in Manhattan. He then went to

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, where he was captain of the swimming team. In 1928, Bowman graduated with a B.S. degree in history. Bowman worked at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

from 1935 to 1961 as an associate curator of the American Wing and director of publications. He then became managing editor of Horizon Books. Bowman married Ruth "Petey" Bradbury on August 20, 1935. She served as editor of ''The Magazine Antiques''. They did not have any children and she died in 1979. Bowman died of pneumonia at the

Lenox Hill Hospital Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH) is a nationally ranked 450-bed non-profit, tertiary, research and academic medical center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, servicing the tri-state area. LHH is one of the region's many unive ...

in Manhattan.

Books

Life in America
Houghton Mifflin. 1951. 2 vols.
The American Heritage History of Colonial Antiques
American Heritage Publishing Company. 1967. 384 pp.
The Horizon Concise History of France
American Heritage Publishing Company. 1971. 219 pp.
The American Heritage History of Notable American Houses
American Heritage Publishing Company. 1971. 383 pp.
The American Heritage History of the Writers' America
American Heritage Publishing Company. 1973. 403 pp.
The American Heritage History of the Artists' America
American Heritage Publishing Company. 1973. 402 pp.
The Horizon History of the World in 1776
American Heritage Publishing Company. 1975. 352 pp.
New York: A Pictorial History
Scribner. 1977. 357 pp.
The American Wing: A Guide
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1980. 176 pp.
500 Years of Life in America: An Illustrated History
Abradale-Abrams. 1983. 256 pp.
The American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
with Elizabeth Stillinger. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1985. 352 pp.

References

1907 births 1989 deaths Princeton University alumni 20th-century American historians Writers from the Bronx 20th-century American non-fiction writers Deaths from pneumonia in New York City {{US-writer-stub