ALBUMEN CABINET CARD PHOTOGRAPH.
Evanston, Ill: Chas. E. Smith. Publisher imprint under image. Verso blank. Mount: 6-1/2" x 4-1/4". Photograph: 5-1/2" x 3-3/4". Now housed in a clear archival mylar sleeve. A bit faded & yellowed. "Clara Barton" penciled under photograph. Stain to lower margin [not affecting imprint]. Very Good. Item #52238
Clara Barton perhaps the best known nurse in American History, primarily remembered today for organizing the American Red Cross.
Born in Massachusetts, she became an educator in 1838 and served for 11 years in schools in and around Oxford, Massachusetts. In 1855, she moved to Washington, D.C., and began work as a clerk in the U.S. Patent Office; this was the first time a woman had received a substantial clerkship in the federal government and at a salary equal to a man's salary. For three years, she received much abuse and slander from male clerks. Subsequently, under political opposition to women working in government offices, her position was reduced to that of copyist, and in 1858, under the administration of James Buchanan, she was fired because of her 'Black Republicanism'. After the election of Abraham Lincoln, having lived with relatives and friends in Massachusetts for three years, she returned to the patent office in the autumn of 1860, now as temporary copyist, in the hope she could make way for more women in government service.
On April 19, 1861, the Baltimore Riot resulted in the first bloodshed of the American Civil War. The victims, members of the 6th Massachusetts Militia, were transported after the violence to the unfinished Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., where Barton lived at the time. Wanting to serve her country, Barton went to the railroad station when the victims arrived and nursed 40 men. Barton provided crucial, personal assistance to the men in uniform, many of whom were wounded, hungry and without supplies other than what they carried on their backs. She personally took supplies to the building to help the soldiers.
During the beginning days & months of the war, Barton was instrumental in getting needed medical supplies, food & other sources of comfort to those injured. In 1864, she was appointed by Union General Benjamin Butler as the "lady in charge" of the hospitals at the front of the Army of the James.
She became known as the "Florence Nightingale of America". She was also known as the "Angel of the Battlefield", this naming coming from her frequent timely assistance as she served troops at the battles of Fairfax Station, Chantilly, Harpers Ferry, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Charleston, Petersburg and Cold Harbor.
After the war, Clara Barton achieved widespread recognition by delivering lectures around the country about her war experiences. In the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1870, she assisted the Grand Duchess of Baden in the preparation of military hospitals and gave the Red Cross society much aid during that conflict.
When Barton returned to the United States, she inaugurated a movement to gain recognition for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) by the United States government. In 1873, she began work on this project. In 1878, she met with President Rutherford B. Hayes, who expressed the opinion of most Americans at that time which was the U.S. would never again face a calamity like the Civil War. Barton finally succeeded during the administration of President Chester Arthur, using the argument that the new American Red Cross could respond to crises other than war such as natural disasters like earthquakes, forest fires, and hurricanes.
Barton became President of the American branch of the society, which held its first official meeting at her apartment in Washington, DC, May 21, 1881. The first local society was founded August 22, 1881 in Dansville, Livingston County, New York. Today, the Red Cross is known internationally for its aid in times of disaster, both natural & man-made.
Price: $325.00