Dorothy A. Nyland (1905-2008), born on April 15, 1905 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Henry T. and Christine Nyland, was a staff member for the Women’s Society of Christian Service in multiple departments. Serving for fourteen years as the Secretary of Student Work for the Women’s Division of Christian Service of the Methodist Board of Missions, Nyland advocated for peace through her work in race relations and had a hand in developing Christian student leaders through her work with Christian youth. The Dorothy Nyland papers are comprised of writings, seminars, informational files, photographs, and correspondences.
Nyland worked for three years as a teacher for Cleveland Public Schools. In the 1930s, she began her work with the Methodist Church. From 1930 to 1936, holding the position of Director of Student Activities at the Wesley Foundation of the University of Oregon. From there, Nyland moved on to be the Director of Christian Education at the Cleveland Church Federation for six years. In 1943, she moved to Houston, Texas to be the Director of Christian Education at the First Methodist Church. In 1945, Nyland left Houston for New York City, to work as the Secretary of Student Work for the Women’s Division of Christian Service of the Methodist Board of Missions. After fourteen years at this position, she moved back to Cleveland, Ohio, to take care of her elderly parents in 1959 and took the position of Secretary of Promotion at the Women’s Guild Evangelical and Reformed Church. After three years there, in 1962, she left to become the Director of Christian Education at the Bethany Presbyterian Church. During her time in Cleveland, Nyland also worked as the Director of Christian Education at the Franklin Circle Christian Church. After almost two and a half years at Bethany Presbyterian Church, she left in 1965 to be the Director of Peace on Earth for the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Santa Barbara, California, for a year.
During her time working, Nyland made multiple trips to different countries. She took a three month trip to Asia during 1935, spent a summer in Europe in 1939, visited Mexico in 1942, and Puerto Rico in 1948, went on a sabbatical for three months in 1951 to travel around the world, and visited Latin America in 1969. While in Europe in 1951, Nyland was a leader at the First World Conference of Christian Youth in Amsterdam, Holland. In 1957, she attended the World Student Christian Federation meeting in Bossey, Switzerland. Nyland spent a month in 1958 in the Soviet Union with a Peace Group and in 1966 she went on a Study Tour with a Methodist group to Czechoslovakia. Nyland was also a member of the district cabinet of the Epworth League in Cleveland, and director of the Epworth League and young people’s work in the Philadelphia Conference.
Throughout her life, Nyland advocated for peace through her pioneering work in race relations, and had a hand in developing Christian student leaders. She worked closely with Christian youth and traveled extensively around the world, visiting sixty-three countries, as well as all fifty states in the United States. Nyland was the author of multiple newspaper articles and pamphlets, as well as the program guide that accompanied the missionary education movement’s textbook, The Trumpet of the Prophecy by Richard Baker. She was known as the “Epistle Packing Mama” among students because she received extensive world-wide mail.
After retiring on April 15, 1969, she was chosen as the chairman of the Women’s Committee of the Cleveland Chapter of UNICEF. Nyland passed away on April 4, 2008, just eleven days shy of her 103rd birthday at Wesley Glen Retirement Community in Columbus, Ohio.
