Polly Doughty Papers

Mary “Polly” French Doughty was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 11th, 1930 and grew up on a family farm near Collegeville, PA. The daughter of Jeanne Rosset and J. Hansell French. She received a BS degree in Biology at Ursinus College in 1952 where she met her classmate and future husband, Paul L. Doughty. Upon graduation she and Paul married, living in Philadelphia, where she worked as a researcher in hematology at the University of Pennsylvania.

When Paul was drafted in 1953, at the end of the Korean War, he served for two years with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Polly accompanied him, and they participated in international rural development and earthquake recovery work in Mexico and El Salvador.

Returning to the United States in 1955, she continued to work at the University of Pennsylvania as Paul began Graduate School in Anthropology. In 1957 they moved to Ithaca, NY and Cornell University where she worked at the Canine Research Laboratory, while Paul continued Graduate School. Polly assisted her husband with his doctoral research in the Andean district of Huaylas in Peru from 1960 to 1961. The couple would later return to Lima, evaluating the Peace Corps impacts in Peru from 1962 to 1964. While in Lima, her daughter, Carol Doughty Nilsson was born in 1963. In 1964, they moved to Indiana where he joined the Anthropology faculty at Indiana University. There Polly was an active member of the Bloomington Friends (Quaker) Meeting, and, began her long career in civic involvement: volunteering in various activities including several local political campaigns, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and other local affairs. In 1969 her son, Thomas H. Doughty was born. In 1971, the family moved to Gainesville where Paul joined the University of Florida Anthropology Department.

While living in Gainesville, Polly founded and supported numerous community organizations and became highly involved with the University of Florida. She was an associate of the Florida Museum of Natural History, a member of the special task force for the Gender Research Center, worked in the Office for International Studies and Programs, and was a member of the Friends of Women’s Studies. She was active in the Alachua County Democratic Party and served on its Executive Committee. She was an organizer and then President of the newly founded Florida Common Cause from 1972 to 1975 and from 1979 to 1983 she served as President of the Alachua County League of Women Voters. She also served as the local and Florida division president of the United Nations Association, the president of the American Philatelic Society of Gainesville, and the president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

Doughty was also a member of 25 different clubs and organizations to help the community, state and nation, including the YMCA, Chijnaya Foundation in Peru, the United Nations, the Girl’s Club of Alachua County, the NAACP, the Florida Defenders of the Environment, the Cultural Arts Coalition, Concerned Citizens for Juvenile Justice, and Planned Parenthood.

Polly passed away at age 86 on January 18, 2017.

Sources:

Miller, Abigail “Mary 'Polly' French Doughty, active volunteer dies at 86.” extref>”