Bowne House has in its collection a 1909 painting by Edwin B. Child (1868-1937) of Mrs. Robert Bowne Parsons, wife of documented underground railroad conductor and nursery co-owner Robert Bowne Parsons. Mrs. Mary (Mitchell) Parsons is notable on her own for her single-handed preservation of the family ancestral Bowne House after her purchase of it at a tax auction in 1886 and subsequent request in her will that the house be preserved. Once conserved, her painting will assume its rightful place next to a portrait of Robert Bowne Parsons by the same artist.

Mrs. Mary (Mitchell) Parsons, 1909, Edwin B. Child

Painting Conservation funding will be supported through the NYSCA/GHHN Conservation Treatment Grant Program administered by Greater Hudson Heritage Network. This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional support is provided from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. Conservation treatment will be done by Williamstown Art Conservation Center, Inc.