Digital Resources

The Library's website includes a variety of primary source materials related to Clara Barton including correspondence, diaries, newspaper articles, images, exhibitions. Listed below are relevant collections and other online resources compiled from across the website.

Clara Barton Papers

Clara Barton Papers
The papers of nurse, educator, philanthropist, and lecturer Clara Barton (1821-1912) consist of 62,000 items (81,608 images), most of which were digitized from 123 reels of previously produced microfilm. Spanning the years 1805-1958, with the bulk dating from 1861 to 1912, the collection contains correspondence, diaries and journals, reports, addresses, legal and financial papers, organizational records, lectures, writings, scrapbooks, biographical material, printed matter, memorabilia, and other papers. The collection includes both Barton's personal papers and official records of the American Red Cross (formerly the American Association of the Red Cross) retained by her during her tenure as president from 1881 to 1904. Correspondence, diaries and journals, lectures, scrapbooks,etc., are among the many items available in the collection.
Finding Aid for the Clara Barton Papers

Selected highlights from this collection:

A Century of Lawmaking

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873
This collection of U.S. Congressional documents makes visible Clara Barton’s efforts and actions toward Congress on behalf of soldiers. A search on “Clara Barton” returns several sources documenting her efforts to find missing soldiers and the various reports she had submitted to Congress.

Selected highlight from this collection:

Bills and Resolutions, Senate, 39th Congress, 1st Session S.R. 36
Providing for expenses incurred in searching for missing soldiers of the army of the United States, and for further prosecution of the same.

Chronicling America

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
This collection includes newspapers covering the time period from 1789 to 1963. Contributors represent most states and some U.S. territories. It is a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Selected highlights from this collection:

Event Videos

Event Videos
The Library of Congress hosts public events featuring authors, world leaders, entertainers, scholars and sports legends. We have been recording Library events for decades and are making those recordings available in this collection.

Selected highlight from this collection:

Cokie Roberts: 2015 National Book Festival
Cokie Roberts discusses her book "Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868" which includes Clara Barton's contributions.

Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey

Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey
This collection documents achievements in architecture, engineering, and landscape design in the United States and its territories through a comprehensive range of building types, engineering technologies, and landscapes. Places significant in Clara Barton's life are documented in this collection.

Selected highlights from this collection:

National American Woman Suffrage Association

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) Collection
This collection is a library of nearly 800 books and pamphlets documenting the suffrage campaign that were collected between 1890 and 1938 by members of NAWSA and donated to the Rare Books Division of the Library of Congress on November 1, 1938. The collection consists of a variety of materials including newspapers, books, pamphlets, memorials, scrapbooks, and proceedings from the meetings of various women's organizations that document the suffrage fight. The newspaper clippings and other materials included can help one gain an understanding of the inspirational role that Clara Barton served for suffragists at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Selected highlights from this collection:

Washington During the Civil War

Washington During the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861 to 1865
This collection represents three manuscript volumes that document daily life in Washington, D.C., through the eyes of U.S. Patent Office examiner Horatio Nelson Taft (1806-1888), including Taft's connection with Abraham Lincoln and his family. Of special interest is Taft's description of Lincoln's assassination, based on the accounts of his friends and his son, who was one of the attending physicians at Ford's Theatre the night Lincoln was shot, on April 14, 1865. Transcriptions for all three volumes have been made by Library of Congress staff and are available online with the digital images. He makes note of Clara Barton in his diary entry for May 24, 1865.

Selected highlight from this collection:

The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865. Volume 3, May 24, 1865

Related Online Resources at the Library

America's Library

This site is designed with young people in mind, but there are great stories for people of all ages. The following features are related to Clara Barton.

By the People

This crowdsourcing project invites you to transcribe, review, and tag digitized images of manuscripts and typed materials from the Library's collections.

Clara Barton Campaign

Online Exhibitions

American Treasures of the Library of Congress: Memory Galllery B-- Civil War
Notes that Clara Barton took documenting the appalling carnage and medical conditions of the wounded transported to Fredericksburg from the Wilderness campaign.
American Treasures of the Library of Congress: Memory Gallery A--Keeping Memories
1889 diary page kept during Clara Barton's tenure as president of the American Red Cross and the Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood
The Civil War in America: Biographies--Clara Barton
The Civil War in America: December 1862-October 1863--Keeping Track of Soldiers
The Civil War in America: Epilogue--A Soldier's Advocate

Library of Congress Blog

Clara Barton: A Memorial Day Story - May 27, 2019, by Michelle Krowl, Manuscript Division

Resources for Teachers

The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching. Find Library of Congress lesson plans and more that meet Common Core standards, state content standards, and the standards of national organizations.

Lesson Plans

Primary Source Sets

Presentations and Activities

Teaching with the Library of Congress Blog

Clara Barton's Papers at the Library of Congress: Personalizing Women's History Month - February 24, 2015

Clara Barton: A Resource Guide

Digital Collections: Ask a Librarian

Digital Resources

Clara Barton Papers

Selected highlights from this collection:

A Century of Lawmaking

Selected highlight from this collection:

Chronicling America

Selected highlights from this collection:

Event Videos

Selected highlight from this collection:

Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey

Selected highlights from this collection:

National American Woman Suffrage Association

Selected highlights from this collection:

Washington During the Civil War

Selected highlight from this collection:

Related Online Resources at the Library

America's Library

By the People

Online Exhibitions

Library of Congress Blog

Resources for Teachers

Lesson Plans

Primary Source Sets

Presentations and Activities

Teaching with the Library of Congress Blog