In 1985, Pleasant Rowland founded the American Girls Collection as a way to inspire children to learn about history through storytelling and play. Each doll in the collection represents a different era, culture, or event in American history. Rowland served as president of the Middleton, Wisconsin-based company for 15 years, until she sold the company in 2000 and founded the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation to provide funds for the arts, education, and historic preservation.
A few years later, she established the Rowland Reading Foundation to improve reading instruction in the primary grades. With a passion for reading education, Rowland established this fund to support The Reading League to help promote knowledge to reimagine the future of literacy education. Her hope is that support from the fund will accelerate the global movement toward reading instruction rooted in science.
Donate Now