L. P. Rowland

L. P. Rowland Jr., editor of two Y. M. C. A. Hymnals, is Levi P. Rowland Jr.. Born in Springfield MA, he was just under 21 years old when, in late 1858 he became Librarian for the Boston Y. M. C. A. at a salary of $4 a week. His duties expanded as he managed their rooms, then managed the organization’s financial campaigns. Somehow there was also time for his editing of their hymnal of 1868. Rowland’s apparent frail health led him to opt against entering the ministry. His ‘Y’ salary rose to $2000 a year just before, after 15 years with the Boston ‘Y’ he left for a more lucrative position as top manager of the Philadelphia Y. M. C. A. There, in 1875, edited another ‘Y’ hymnal, this time for his Philadelphia compatriots. Rowland may have been the earliest person to make the Y. M. C. A. his entire life’s work. In true Y. M. C. A. spirit, the source does not mention his denomination.

Source: Whiteside, William B., 1951, The Boston Y. M. C. A. and Community Need, New York, Association Press, pp 41-42.