# Alida Bowler

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**Alida Cynthia Bowler** (November 29, 1887 – May 17, 1968) was an American [social worker](/source/Social_work) and educator who advocated for [Indigenous Americans](/source/Indigenous_Americans) in [Nevada](/source/Nevada). She worked for the [Red Cross](/source/International_Red_Cross_and_Red_Crescent_Movement), the [American Indian Defense Association](/source/American_Indian_Defense_Association), the [United States Children's Bureau](/source/United_States_Children's_Bureau), and at educational institutions. She also became the first female superintendent at a [Native American boarding school](/source/Native_American_boarding_schools), when she was appointed to [Stewart Indian School](/source/Stewart_Indian_School) in 1934.

## Early life and education

Bowler was born on November 29, 1887, in [Moro, Illinois](/source/Moro,_Illinois), United States.[1]

Bowler studied [psychology](/source/Psychology) at the [University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign](/source/University_of_Illinois_Urbana-Champaign), graduating with her masters degree in 1911.[2] As a student, Bowler was a May Day [folk dancer](/source/Folk_dance) and member of the Classical Club, [Kappa Alpha Theta](/source/Kappa_Alpha_Theta), [Phi Delta Psi](/source/Phi_Delta_Psi) and [Phi Beta Kappa](/source/Phi_Beta_Kappa).[2]

## Career

After graduating, Bowler worked as high school English teacher in [Alton](/source/Alton,_Illinois), [Illinois](/source/Illinois), then was a psychology instructor who gave the Vrooman tests at [Ohio State University](/source/Ohio_State_University) in [Columbus](/source/Columbus,_Ohio), [Ohio](/source/Ohio).[1] She also contributed to research which was published in *[The American Journal of Psychology](/source/The_American_Journal_of_Psychology)*[3] and to a study of the [Ohio State School for the Blind](/source/Ohio_State_School_for_the_Blind).[4]

During [World War I](/source/World_War_I), Bowler served in France with the [Red Cross](/source/International_Red_Cross_and_Red_Crescent_Movement).[5] After the [Armistice](/source/Armistice_of_11_November_1918) was signed in 1918, ending the war, she was transferred to Romania where she worked supporting and resettling [refugees](/source/Refugee) fleeing from [Odesa](/source/Odesa).[1][2][6]

Bowler returned to the United States in September 1919. She continued to work for the Red Cross in [Seattle](/source/Seattle), [Washington](/source/Washington_(state)). She then worked for five years as executive secretary of the [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco) office of the [American Indian Defense Association](/source/American_Indian_Defense_Association) (AIDA), alongside [John C. Collier](/source/John_C._Collier).[1] She engaged in social work and worked with the United States Interdepartmental Hygiene Board.[7]

In 1929, Bowler was appointed as temporary and emergency president of the Bureau of Public Relations by the Chief of the [Los Angeles Police Department](/source/Los_Angeles_Police_Department) (LAPD) in [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles), [California](/source/California), following the death of [Ralph S. Boyesen](/source/Ralph_S._Boyesen) who had previously held the role.[7]

In the early 1930s, Bowler worked as director of the delinquency division of the [United States Children’s Bureau](/source/United_States_Children's_Bureau). With [Ruth Bloodgood](/source/Ruth_Bloodgood), she undertook research studies on [juvenile delinquency](/source/Juvenile_delinquency_in_the_United_States) and state children’s facilities.[8][9]

On September 1, 1934, Bowler became the first female superintendent at an "Indian" boarding school,[10][11] working for the rural Carson Indian Agency in [Nevada](/source/Nevada) at the boarding [Stewart Indian School](/source/Stewart_Indian_School).[1] Her appointment was reported on by *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*.[12] Bowler was appointed after the [Indian Reorganization Act (1934)](/source/Indian_Reorganization_Act_of_1934) was passed, which ended previous policies eradicating tribal culture and working towards the [cultural assimilation of Native Americans](/source/Cultural_assimilation_of_Native_Americans).[11] She also served as [Indian Agent](/source/Indian_Agent) for most of Nevada, and worked to empower tribal councils and [Native American self-determination](/source/Native_American_self-determination).[13]

While in post, Bowler supported girls organising themselves into sewing clubs.[14] In 1936, she opened the Wa-Pai-Shone Craft Cooperative and Trading Post, which sold [buckskin](/source/Buckskin_(leather)) and beaded artworks and other craft items made by female school students. The students received the proceeds from the sales.[15][16][17] The name Wa-Pai-Shone was a [portmanteau](/source/Portmanteau) to recognize the names of the three tribal nations ([Washoe](/source/Washoe_people), [Paiute](/source/Paiute_people) and [Shoshone](/source/Shoshone)) that were represented in the school body.[16] While working in Nevada, Bowler reflected that:[2]

"The Indian in Nevada…is still discriminated against socially and exploited economically. He is primarily the under-paid agricultural season laborer upon whom the big cattle and sheep interests depend for cheap labor at certain seasons…He lives on a substandard level, and his smug white employer asserts that the Indian is perfectly content at the level and neither desires nor deserves a hand up."

In 1939, Bowler publicly supported the [Pyramid Lake Paiute](/source/Pyramid_Lake_Paiute_Tribe_Reservation) tribal nation and their efforts to maintain sovereignty and evict white settlers irrigation works from the [Truckee River](/source/Truckee_River).[18] In response, the [Office of Indian Affairs](/source/Office_of_Indian_Affairs) (OA) removed Bowler from her position as superintendent for the Carson Indian Agency. Three councils of tribal leaders sent letters to the OA protesting her removal, including the [Walker River Paiute](/source/Walker_River_Paiute) tribal nation of Nevada, but Bowler was still replaced.[19]

Before leaving her position she said that:[1]

"I do deeply regret having to leave Nevada. I have fallen in love with the State–its beauty, its climate, and its people—especially the Indian people. The work in the Carson Indian Agency for the past five years has given me a greater and more genuine satisfaction than any of the things I have tackled in previous years…. I have been privileged to serve as their advisor and friend."

In 1948, Bowler worked as an Indian Service placement officer in California, supporting [Navajo](/source/Navajo) and [Hopi](/source/Hopi) people to find off-reservation jobs through the Window Rock agency.[20] She reported that [veterans](/source/Veteran) who "already know the ways of the "white man’s world"" had the easiest time adjusting to urban life.[21]

## Death

Bowler died on May 17, 1968, in [Riverside](/source/Riverside,_California), California, United States, aged 80. She was buried at [Forest Lawn Memorial Park](/source/Forest_Lawn_Memorial_Park_(Glendale,_California)) in [Glendale](/source/Glendale,_California), California.[1]

## References

1. Kolvet, Renee Corona (2022). ["Alida Cynthia Bowler"](https://www.nevadawomen.org/research-center/biographies-alphabetical/alida-cynthia-bowler/). *Nevada Women's History Project*. Retrieved 2026-03-08.

1. Jordan, Angela (2014-04-11). ["Alida Cynthia Bowler: Responsibility of Privilege"](https://archives.library.illinois.edu/2014/04/11/alida-cynthia-bowler/). *University of Illinois Archives*. Retrieved 2026-03-08.

1. Finkenbinder, E. O. (1913). ["The Curve of Forgetting"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1413271). *[The American Journal of Psychology](/source/The_American_Journal_of_Psychology)*. **24** (1): 8–32. [doi:10.2307/1413271](https://doi.org/10.2307/1413271). [ISSN 0002-9556](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0002-9556). Retrieved 2026-03-08.

1. Haines, Thomas H. (1916). ["A Psychological Survey of the Ohio State School for the Blind"](https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X1600900411). *Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness*. **9** (4). Retrieved 2026-03-08.

1. Black, William G. (1991). ["Social Work in World War I: A Method Lost"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/30012406). *Social Service Review*. **65** (3): 379–402. [ISSN 0037-7961](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0037-7961). Retrieved 2026-03-08.

1. "Alida C. Bowler ’08 Tells of Rumanian Relief Work." *[The Daily Illini](/source/The_Daily_Illini),* January 8, 1920, p. 8.

1. [*Journal of Social Hygiene*](https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Journal_of_Social_Hygiene/HupHAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Alida+Bowler&pg=PA247&printsec=frontcover). Vol. 13. American Social Hygiene Association (ASHA). 1927. pp. 247–248.

1. de Q. Cabot, Philippe Sidney (1971). [*Juvenile Delinquency: A Critical Annotated Bibliography*](https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Juvenile_Delinquency/XLoQAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Alida+Bowler&dq=Alida+Bowler&printsec=frontcover). Greenwood Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-8371-5779-5.

1. Rothman, David J. (2017-07-05). [*Conscience and Convenience: The Asylum and Its Alternatives in Progressive America*](https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Conscience_and_Convenience/wisxDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Alida+Bowler&pg=PA456&printsec=frontcover). Routledge. p. 286. ISBN 978-1-351-52653-1.

1. Cassinelli, Dennis (2021-09-01). ["Stewart Indian School"](http://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/2021/sep/01/dennis-cassinelli-stewart-indian-school/). *[Nevada Appeal](/source/Nevada_Appeal)*. Retrieved 2026-03-08.

1. Mullen, Frank X. (2021-08-15). ["‘Kill the Indian; Save the man’"](https://renonr.com/2021/08/15/kill-the-indian-save-the-man/). *Reno News & Review*. Retrieved 2026-03-08.

1. ["WOMAN APPOINTED TO GOVERN INDIANS; Alida Bowler, Aide of Crime Inquiry, Is First of Her Sex to Be Superintendent. TO PUSH WELFARE PLANS Federal Indian Head Expects Her to Discover New Fields in Organizing Tribes."](https://www.nytimes.com/1934/08/04/archives/woman-appointed-to-govern-indians-alida-bowler-aide-of-crime.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 1934-08-04. [ISSN 0362-4331](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 2026-03-08.

1. Thompson, Bonnie (December 2013). ["The Student Body: A History of the Stewart Indian School, 1890–1940](https://repository.asu.edu/attachments/125895/content/Thompson_asu_0010E_13545.pdf)". p. 2. [Arizona State University](/source/Arizona_State_University).

1. Gouveia, Grace Mary. (1994) ["'Uncle Sam's priceless daughters': American Indian women during the Great Depression, World War II, and the postwar era."](https://www.proquest.com/openview/bc0f9106c47d73f903a76bd6bd736205/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y) PhD dissertation, [Purdue University](/source/Purdue_University). Retrieved March 8, 2026.

1. Kane, Jenny (2020-01-24). ["'I feel the history': Stewart Indian School converted into museum to remember dark past"](https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2020/01/24/stewart-indian-school-converted-into-museum-carson-city-history/4494506002/). *Reno Gazette Journal*. Retrieved 2026-03-08.

1. ["Wa-Pai-Shone Gallery opens at Stewart Cultural Center, Museum"](http://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/2020/jan/14/wa-pai-shone-gallery-opens-at-stewart-cultural-cen/). *Nevada Appeal*. 2020-01-14. Retrieved 2026-03-08.

1. Nevers, Jo Ann (1976). [*Wa She Shu: A Washo Tribal History*](https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Wa_She_Shu/3zkaAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Alida+Bowler&dq=Alida+Bowler&printsec=frontcover). Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada. p. 83.

1. Kolvet, Renee Corona (2011). ["The Indian New Deal: Scenes from the Carson Indian Agency"](https://juliacbulette.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/210777-2011.pdf). *Nevada Historical Society Quarterly*. **54** (1-4). Retrieved 2026-03-08.

1. Williams, Samantha M. (2022). [*Assimilation, Resilience, and Survival: A History of the Stewart Indian School, 1890-2020*](https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Assimilation_Resilience_and_Survival/PTxlEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Alida+Bowler&pg=RA1-PA31&printsec=frontcover). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-4962-3200-7.

1. [*The Desert Magazine*](https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Desert_Magazine/Ia3rGxF8kEwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Alida+Bowler&dq=Alida+Bowler&printsec=frontcover). Desert Press. 1948. p. 46.

1. Miller, Douglas K. (2013-01-01). ["Willing Workers: Urban Relocation and American Indian Initiative, 1940s–1960s"](https://read.dukeupress.edu/ethnohistory/article/60/1/51/9017/Willing-Workers-Urban-Relocation-and-American). *Ethnohistory*. **60** (1): 51–76. [doi:10.1215/00141801-1816175](https://doi.org/10.1215/00141801-1816175). [ISSN 0014-1801](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0014-1801). Retrieved 2026-03-08.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alida Bowler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alida_Bowler) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alida_Bowler?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.