Clara Barton

Portrait of Clara Barton, 1860s or 1870s

Clarissa Harlowe Barton was born on December 25, 1821 in North Oxford, MA. She was the fifth child of Stephen and Sarah Barton. 

Clara Barton Homestead in North Oxford, Massachusetts

Open to the public as a memorial to the "Angel of the Battlefield”, Clara Barton’s home is restored as nearly as possible to the condition when she was born in the west parlor bedroom.

Clara Barton Schoolhouse, Bordentown, New Jersey

Clara Barton started teaching when she was 17 and by 1852, she established the first free public school in Bordentown, NJ.

US Patent Office

By 1854, Barton moved to Washington DC securing a job as a Recording Clerk at the U.S. Patent Office. She was one of the first women to work for the federal government.

Clara Barton Military Pass from Surgeon General, 1862

From 1861 to 1865, Clara Barton provided nursing care and supplies to the Union troops during the U.S. Civil War. This military pass signed by U.S. Surgeon General William Hammond July 11, 1862 allowed Barton inside military lines to provide care to the soldiers.

Matthew Brady Portrait of Clara Barton

When the U.S. Civil War ended, Barton led a nationwide effort to locate missing soldiers for concerned relatives and friends. The office responded to 63,183 letters from families and located 22,000 men, Barton closed the Office of Missing Soldiers in 1869.

Portrait of Clara Barton, 1881

This portrait of Clara Barton was created the year she founded the American Red Cross. She was 59 years old.

Invitation to The First Red Cross Meeting, 1881

The American Red Cross was founded in 1881, after Clara Barton learned of the international movement while visiting Geneva, Switzerland in 1869. This is the invitation Clara Barton sent for the first Red Cross meeting.

Appeal to the American People, 1882

An appeal for disaster relief after a flooding event occurred in 1882, signed by Clara Barton and her committee, including Frederick Douglass. The early years of the American Red Cross were spent responding to disasters, which included floods, fires, and hurricanes.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Flood Shelter, 1889

On May 31, 1889, Johnstown, PA was flooded by a wall of water from the dam break on the Conemaugh River. The Red Cross responded providing medical care, shelter, food, supplies and housing materials.

Sea Island, South Carolina Hurricane Relief, 1894

In 1893, Sea Islands, SC was struck by a major hurricane leaving 30,000 mostly African Americans homeless. With fields inundated by saltwater and crops and homes destroyed, the Red Cross provided food, shelter, medical care, seeds and supplies to the storm victims.

Newspaper Clipping of Clara Barton, Circa Spanish American War

This picture of the clipping is assumed to be taken in the time of the Spanish American War. The caption reads: “Miss Clara Barton - With Whose Name the Work of the Red Cross of America Will Always Be Associated. A Woman Who Has Achieved Much".

International Conference Photo, 1902

In 1902, Clara Barton led the U.S. Delegation to the 7th International Conference of the Red Cross in St. Petersburg, Russia. She was photographed with B.F. Tillinghast, who accompanied her to Russia, and Admiral N. Kaznakoff.

Clara Barton Home in Glen Echo, Maryland

Montgomery County Maryland's first registered National Historic Landmark, the Clara Barton House, is located on a wooded hill above the Potomac River and Old Chesapeake & Ohio Canal.

Clara Barton Gravestone

By 1904, Barton retired from the Red Cross. She lived out the rest of her life at her Glenn Echo, MD home and died there on April 12, 1912, at the age of 90. She is buried in the family cemetery in North Oxford, MA.