Clarissa Harlowe Barton was an American nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and a patent clerk. Since nursing education was not then very formalized and she did not attend nursing school, she provided self-taught nursing care. Barton is noteworthy for doing humanitarian work and civil rights advocacy at a time before women had the right to vote. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973.
Barton in 1865
Barton c. 1866
Photo by James E. Purdy (1904)
Clara Barton – steel engraving by John Sartain
The American National Red Cross, is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the designated US affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the United States movement to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
American Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
American Red Cross workplace, Memphis TN, c. 1898
American Red Cross WWI poster
U.S. stamp commemorating Red Cross 50th anniversary, issue of 1931