By Colleen Foy, Wanek Center Librarian, Nursing and Natural Sciences Liaison
In honor of Women’s History Month, and in celebration of HPU’s Nursing Program approval, we’re highlighting the life and accomplishments of Clara Barton. Most commonly known as the founder of the American Red Cross, Barton held the roles of teacher, patriot, heroine, feminist, civil rights activist, humanitarian, and most notably, Civil War nurse and Angel of the Battlefield.
Angel of the Battlefield
Even at 11 years old, Barton was known to provide care for her brother bedridden with a head injury. It was then the foundation was laid fostering a lifelong commitment to recognizing and filling needs of others. Barton went on to hold teaching and government clerk roles in times when men strictly dominated those fields (Updike, 2000). At the start of the Civil War in 1861, Barton recognized the need and took action to supply relief articles and support to wounded soldiers (Evans, 2003). Although it took a year, she influenced government leaders to allow her on battle and hospital grounds in direct lines of fire. In additional war efforts, Barton wrote to families in search of soldiers prompting Abraham Lincoln to direct missing persons inquiries directly to Barton herself. This led to the identification of over 22,000 missing men (“Founder”, 2022).
From battlefield relief to disaster relief
In 1870, at the start of the Franco-Prussian war, Barton witnessed the International Red Cross in action. This organization could sustain the efforts she exercised in the Civil War but on a much larger scale. Although it wouldn’t be until 1882, after tireless lobbying and campaigning due to America’s reluctance to involvement in foreign treaties, Barton obtained its signature to the Geneva Convention and ultimately the “American Amendment.” This action expanded the scope of the new American Red Cross to support victims of war as well as natural disasters. Under Barton’s lead, and despite widespread criticism, the American Red Cross provided relief to 30,000 African Americans left impoverished following a massive hurricane hitting the South Carolina coast in 1893. When critics considered funding unacceptably depleted on this population, Barton deliberated this effort to be moral necessity (Evans, 2003).
Barton – one of the Wonder Women of History
As comic books gained widespread attention and popularity in the 1940’s depicting superhero-, science fiction-, and fantasy-based characters, the “true adventure” genre portrayed real-life medical history icons. This genre intended to celebrate achievements in medical research and practice as well as inspire readers to pursue careers in medical sciences (Hansen, 2004). Barton is listed as one of the 57 Wonder Women of History and appeared in six issues of the featured Wonder Woman series concept containing stories about famous and groundbreaking women. These stories depict Barton in government offices fighting for a place on the battlefield to hospital bedsides aiding wounded soldiers (Comic Vine, 2022).
Library of Congress Project – Barton Birthday Review
In 2019, the Library of Congress campaigned a call for the review of Barton’s papers – diaries, correspondence, autobiographical manuscripts, poems – in celebration of her December 25 birthday. This effort consisted of the transcription of tens of thousands of pages via a crowdsourcing platform chronicling her work with numerous progressive causes (Library of Congress, 2019). In just two weeks, volunteers completed over 2,000 pages making more of the complete collection available in the Library of Congress Collection of Clara Barton Papers (Algee, 2020). This work sheds light on Barton’s accomplishments as well as the trials and frustrations that challenged her as a woman who lived with drive and purpose during in this era.
During this Women’s History Month, remember to thank Clara for her work and the generations of nurses, human rights and needs activists, and philanthropists that led in her footsteps!
References
Algee, Lauren. (2020, January 2). Clara Barton Birthday Review Challenge – Update! [Blog Post]. Library of Congress. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://historyhub.history.gov/message/15192
American Red Cross. (2022). Clara’s Story [Image]. About Clara Barton | Red Cross Founder | American Red Cross
American Red Cross. (n.d.). Founder Clara Barton. https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/enterprise-assets/about-us/history/history-clara-barton-v5.pdf
American Red Cross. (2018, December 24). Red Cross Founder Clara Barton Born on Christmas Day [Photograph]. https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/Happy-Birthday-Clara-Barton.html
Clara Barton Papers: Red Cross File, -1957; American National Red Cross, 1878 to 1957; Relief operations; Armenia and Turkey; Newspaper clippings; 1896, Sept.-1897, Nov., undated. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mss119730564/
Comic Vine. (2022). Days later – and the secretary of war has a determined visitor… [Image]. https://comicvine.gamespot.com/clara-barton/4005-80178/images/
Comic Vine. (2022). Even her nights were given to the wounded! [Image]. https://comicvine.gamespot.com/clara-barton/4005-80178/images/
Comic Vine. (2022). The Wonder Women of History. https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-wonder-women-of-history/4015-55999/
Evans, G. D. (2003). Clara barton: Teacher, nurse, civil war heroine, founder of the american red cross. International History of Nursing Journal, 7(3), 75. https://libproxy.highpoint.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/clara-barton-teacher-nurse-civil-war-heroine/docview/218764091/se-2?accountid=11411
Hansen, B. (2004). Medical history for the masses: How American comic books celebrated heroes of medicine in the 1940s. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 78(1), 148-91. https://libproxy.highpoint.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/medical-history-masses-how-american-comic-books/docview/236654058/se-2?accountid=11411
History. (2009, November 24). American Red Cross founded [Image]. American Red Cross Founded – HISTORY
Library of Congress. (December, 2019). Clara Barton: “Angel of the Battlefield.” https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/clara-barton-angel-of-the-battlefield/
Updike, W. A. (2000, Jul). Angel of the battlefield. National Parks, 74, 40. https://libproxy.highpoint.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/angel-battlefield/docview/220193570/se-2?accountid=11411