Anna Sieling photograph and ephemera collection

Born in Germany, Anna Antonia Sieling (1867-1951) immigrated to Baltimore, Maryland in 1882 with her parents and siblings. She began working in the dietetics department at the Maryland General Hospital, while at the same time attending Johns Hopkins University in order to study English as a second language. Deciding to pursue a career in nursing, Sieling graduated from the German Hospital of the City of New York (now known as Lenox Hill Hospital) in 1902. She then served as superintendent of District nurses in Washington, D.C. and as superintendent of nurses at the Martha Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia as well as at the Newport News General Hospital in Virginia.

In 1904 Sieling became superintendent of nurses at Franklin Square Hospital, which was located at the northwest corner of Calhoun and Fayette Streets in West Baltimore. Beginning in 1910, she owned and operated Pine Crest Sanatorium in Catonsville, Maryland. Also known as Sieling's Sanatorium, this private facility comprising 20 acres was for the care and treatment of "mental and nervous diseases" as well as "drug and alcohol habits." In 1939 Sieling turned the sanatorium over to her nephew, Hammond P. Dorsey, Esq. Pine Crest closed in 1963 and in 1967 vandals set fire to the facility, which was destroyed.