Today In History: Clara Barton Founds the Red Cross

Nothing has been done with a view to having it known and nothing has ever been considered by me as worth knowing beyond myself and not very closely treasured there. Very little has been written or published and while I perhaps worked rather leisurely it has been mere work. No expression of that beyond that which the activity itself conveyed, I have never attempted to lead and am not a proselyter.
When we meet we will get some quiet time together and I will tell you "once upon a time" when I was a little girl and so on but you will think it very tame material for a sketch I expect because I ran and played with the boys, waded in the brooks, hunted hens eggs and jumped from the "great beams", made play houses and lived in them all over the old New England hillsides, went through the snow two miles to school, made all the untamed hours I could get my hands on, never knew what it was to be tired and slept so soundly at night that thunder couldn't wake me, just like all other healthy little country girls -- till I was eleven years old -- after that I seemed to have more care and thought and life began a little with me. So you see there isn't much to gleam -- but you will have it.

Barton, Clara. Letter to Miss Laroom, March 28, 1883, from Education Manuscript Group 1, Teachers College Digital Collections.

On May 21st, 1881 nursing pioneer and social reformer Clara Baron (December 25, 1821, Oxford, Mass. - April 12, 1912, Glen Echo., Md. ) founded the American Red Cross which provided assistance to United States citizens who were victims of disaster or battle.  One year later,  the United States ratified the Geneva Convention, protecting war-wounded and civilians in all conflict zones -- laws that recognized the services of the Red Cross overseas and led to its Congressional charter in 1900. 

From the beginning of the American Civil War, Clara Barton provided nursing care, medicine, and supplies to soldiers -- showing not only compassion, but characteristic initiative in finding new ways to help the armed forces and those in need. Under President Abraham Lincoln she set up a records office to search for missing men and became one of the first women to work in the federal government. Clara Barton was home educated; attended the Clinton Liberal Institute in New York (1850-51); taught and established a highly successful free school in Bordentown, New Jersey before working as a copyist in the U.S. Patent Office prior to her nursing career.  Nicknamed "Angel of the Battlefield", Clara Barton was president of the American Red Cross until 1904 and her legacy lived on through the continuation of her hope and humanitarianism by countless volunteers, donors, and partners.  

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• Miss Clara Barton: The Founder of the Red Cross in This Country: The Story of a Noble Life. (1898/06/16/, 1898 Jun 16). The Hartford Courant (1887-1922) .
• "Our Greatest National Heroine": Percy H. Epler's Biography of Clara Barton. (1915/12/19/, 1915 Dec 19). New York Times (1857-1922)
• Clara Barton and the Red Cross (1922/03/05/, 1922 Mar 05). New York Times (1857-1922) 
• Stuyvesant, M. S. (1922/08/17/, 1922 Aug 17). Heroines of History: How Clara Barton Started the American Red Cross. The Washington Post (1877-1922) 
• American Red Cross Founded on Initiative of Clara Barton: Renowned in Social Service Practical Philanthropy. (1933/01/26/, 1933 Jan 26). The Christian Science Monitor (1908-) 
• Gets Clara Barton Lore: Library of Congress Has Gift of Red Cross Founder's Papers. (1941/01/11/, 1941 Jan 11) . (New York Times (1923-) 
• Named for Hall of Fame: Clara Barton, Red Cross Founder, Nominated in Tenth Election.  (1944/01/09/, 1944 Jan 09). New York Times (1923-) 
• To Honor Clara Barton: Red Cross Workers Will Mark 125th Birthday. (1946/12/25/, 1946 Dec 25). New York Times (1923-) 
• Samuels, G. S. (1961/02/26/, 1961 Feb 26). The Legacy of Clara Barton: The Work of a Great Humanitarian Has an Enduring Monument: The American Red Cross. The Legacy of Clara Barton. New York Times (1923-) 
• Nation Pays Tribute to Clara Barton: Red Cross Founder, 'Angel of Battlefield'. (1961/05/21/, 1961 May 21). New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 

Tips:

• Barton, Clara. The Red Cross : A History of This Remarkable International Movement in the Interest of Humanity; a Vivid and Authoritative Account of Relief from Suffering by War, Pestilence, Famine, Flood, Fires and Other National Calamities. Washington: American National Red Cross, 1898. TCANA ; HV568 .B37 1898. e-book (1982)
• Barton, Clara. The Red Cross in Peace and War. Washington, D.C: American Historical Press, 1899.  TCANA ; HV568 .B2 1899
• Barton, Clara. The Story of My Childhood. New York: Baker and Taylor, 1907.  e-book. Reprint (1980) at Barnard Library: HV569.B3 A3 1980
• Barton, William E. (William Eleazar). The Life of Clara Barton : Founder of the American Red Cross. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin company, 1922.  TCANA ; HV569.B3 B4
• Donev, Mary Kaiser, and Marianne M Sachs-Iacob. Angel of the Battlefield. New York: McGraw-Hill School Division, 1999.  Curriculum ; PE1117 .M346 1999 Gr. 5 unit Ang
• Nolan, Jeannette Covert. The Story of Clara Barton of the Red Cross. New York: J. Messner, Inc., 1941.  Closed Stacks Curr ; HV569.B3 N6y 1941
• Young, Charles Sumner. Clara Barton : A Centenary Tribute to the World’s Greatest Humanitarian, Founder of the Red Cross ... Boston: Richard G. badger, The Gorham Press, 1922.  TCANA ; HV569.B3 Y6 1922

Images:

• McCoy, A. G. & Iciek, S. A. (ca. 1918) If I Fail He Dies Work for the Red Cross / / Rev. S.A. Iciek & Arthur G. McCoy. United States, ca. 1918. Duluth: J.J. LeTourneau Printing Co.  Library of Congress.
• Poster Image:  Portrait of Clara Barton, from Clara Barton Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

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