Biography courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Amy Farley Rowland (1872-1953) served with the Lakeside Unit during World War I. As George W. Crile's assistant, she edited a number of his publications. She was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, to Tace Wardwell Rowland and Reverend Lyman S. Rowland. The family soon moved to Lee, Massachusetts, where Rowland attended public schools. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1893 and did one year of postgraduate study at Columbia University. Rowland taught school in New York and Washington, D.C., for the next decade, and for three years, represented the United States at the International Institute for Girls in Spain. She became editorial secretary and assistant in surgical research to Dr. Crile of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914. In the winter of 1914-1915 she worked with the American Ambulance in France, as part of the Western Reserve University Unit. After America entered World War I, she again traveled to France, this time with the Lakeside Hospital Unit as assistant registrar. After Crile and others founded the Cleveland Clinic, Rowland took charge of its editorial department (1921-1926) and then became executive secretary there.
Rowland was a charter member of the Women's City Club of Cleveland and its director (1919-1925) and president (1923-1924); a founder of the Women's Council for the Promotion of Peace; a founder, officer and trustee of the Cleveland Girls' Council, a trustee of Alta House and Woman's General Hospital and president (1919-1922) of the Mt. Holyoke Alumnae Association of Cleveland. From 1928-1935 she served as trustee of Mt. Holyoke College, which had awarded her an honorary Master of Science degree in 1921. Rowland is buried in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Amy Rowland
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the Lakeside Unit
The Amy F. Rowland Papers, 1917-1924, consist of diary entries, memoranda, and letters, the bulk of which relate to the Lakeside Unit in 1917 and 1918.
This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of the Lakeside Unit, a medical unit organized in Cleveland, Ohio, by George Crile and other medical staff members from Lakeside Hospital. This unit was the first contingent of American expeditionary forces to serve in World War I. The collection documents women's history, medical history, the history of nursing in the early twentieth century, and the history and experiences of women who served in the United States army during World War I. Those interested in the specific experiences and observations of Amy Rowland will find this collection particularly useful, especially her notes on battlefield medical research conducted during World War I.
The collection is arranged chronologically.
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 3692 Amy F. Rowland Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.