Lotta Stetson Rand (August 26, 1868 – December 3, 1956) was an American social worker and an executive at the

American Foundation for the Blind The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is an American non-profit organization for people with vision loss. AFB's objectives include conducting research to advance change, promoting knowledge and understanding, and shaping policies and practice ...

Early life and education

Rand was born in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

, the daughter of John Howard Rand and Julia Dodd Spinney Rand.

Career

Rand was a social worker in Lynn as a young woman. She became a deputy superintendent with the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind beginning in 1908. She was a delegate to the International Conference for the Blind, held in London in 1914. She spent three months with the

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

in Halifax in 1918, assigned to report on conditions for blinded victims of the

Halifax Explosion On the morning of 6 December 1917, the French cargo ship collided with the Norwegian vessel in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. ''Mont-Blanc'', laden with Explosive material, high explosives, caught fire and exploded, devastat ...

. Later in 1918 she went to France to work with the Red Cross in the care of American soldiers blinded in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

.Lotta Stetson Rand, United States passport application, dated June 26, 1918; National Archives, via Ancestry. In the early 1920s, Rand was executive secretary of the

Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first ...

Course in Education of the Blind, an extension program. In the 1920s and 1930s she was associate director of the American Foundation for the Blind, based in New York. As AFB field representative, she toured in the United States speaking to community groups and raising funds. She often spoke on issues affecting people who became blind in adulthood. Rand also made advance arrangements and accompanied some of

Helen Keller Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer. Born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, she lost her sight and her hearing after a bout of illness when ...

's speaking engagements in the 1930s. Rand and Keller met as early as 1908, when Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy visited a handicraft shop in

Manchester, Massachusetts Manchester-by-the-Sea (also known simply as Manchester, its name prior to 1990) is a coastal town on Cape Ann, in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is known for scenic beaches and vista points. According to the 2020 populati ...

, run by the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, Rand was also on hand, as a commission superintendent.

Publications

* ''Agencies for the blind in America: Directory of activities for the blind in the United States and Canada'' (1926, compiled by Rand)

Personal life

Rand died in 1956, at the age of 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rand, Lotta S. 1868 births 1956 deaths People from Lynn, Massachusetts American social workers American women in World War I