Museum - Explore Our History

RED CROSS MILESTONES

1861
Clara Barton aids servicemen and their families, first by assisting men in Washington, D.C. encamped there on their way to combat in the Civil War. Later she takes her campaign directly to the battlefields.

President Abraham Lincoln creates the U.S. Sanitary Commission, a precursor of the American Red Cross, to cope with diseases sweeping through the Union Army.

1862
Henry Dunant publishes Un Souvenir de Solferino that recounts his experiences serving the wounded after a battle during the Franco – Austrian War in Italy. His book leads to formation of the Red Cross Movement.

1869
Clara Barton sails to Europe for a period of rest and recuperation after her exertions during and after the Civil War. While there she learns about the new Red Cross movement.

1881
Due to Clara Barton's fervent campaign, the American Association of the Red Cross is incorporated in Washington, D.C. Barton is selected to serve as its first president. She also forms the first local Red Cross society in Dansville, N.Y. Societies in nearby Rochester and Syracuse begin shortly afterward.

The Red Cross embarks on its first disaster relief effort by providing assistance to victims of forest fires in Michigan that leave 125 dead and thousands homeless.

1882
The United States ratifies the First Geneva Convention protecting the war-injured. The Red Cross sends funds and seeds to victims of spring flooding along the Mississippi River, the organization's second disaster relief effort.

1899
The Hague Convention extends the principles of the original Geneva Convention of 1864 to protection of those involved in warfare at sea.

1891
The Red Cross constructs a building in Glen Echo, Md. to serve as a warehouse for disaster supplies. Later it is modified to accommodate offices and living quarters for Clara Barton and her associates.

1892
The Red Cross embarks on its first overseas relief program by sending corn donated by Midwestern farmers to Russia to help feed one million famine victims.

1900
ARC receives its first Congressional Charter. (The organization had been incorporated in the District of Columbia since its formation in 1881.)

ARC responds to Galveston, TX, hurricane and tidal waves that cause the highest death toll in U.S. natural disaster history: an estimated 6,000 deaths.

1901
First Nobel Peace Prize ever awarded goes to Henry Dunant for founding the Red Cross Movement.

1911
President William Howard Taft issues a proclamation, based on the Red Cross charter, stating that the Red Cross is the "only volunteer society now authorized ... to render aid to its land and naval forces in war," reaffirming the close ties between the Red Cross and the U.S. military.

The Red Cross supplies financial and other assistance to families of the victims of the fire in the garment workshop of the Triangle Waist Factory in New York City that causes 145 deaths and prompts major revisions to the city's fire laws.

1912
The Red Cross provides financial and other aid to survivors of the Titanic disaster.

The Red Cross begins its Rural Nursing Program that gives home nursing training and assistance to families in areas underserved by medical professionals.

1921
For the first time, the Red Cross goes beyond its guidelines and provides relief to victims of civil unrest following the Tulsa, Okla. race riot that causes the destruction of African-American sections of the city by fire and results in more than 100 deaths.

The Red Cross holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio.

The Red Cross establishes its Braille Corps.

1922
The Red Cross creates the national office of Volunteer Service that embraces all volunteer activities within the organization. Mabel T. Boardman serves as its director for 17 years.

1929
Signatories of the Geneva Conventions adopt the Third Convention calling for protection of prisoners of war.

1932
President Herbert Hoover calls on the Red Cross to distribute government surplus wheat and cotton to the needy during the Depression. Ten million barrels of flour and more than 100 million items of clothing are given out.

1941
Within minutes of the attack on Pearl Harbor, American Red Cross first aid teams and nurses are on the scene, responding as they had been taught in repeated war drills.

1942
The Red Cross begins collecting blood for the military at nine centers around the country. The Red Cross opens its first clubs in Europe for U.S. servicemen. It also wheels out its first Clubmobile, a converted half-ton truck that tours airfields in England with coffee and doughnuts. Fire at the Coconut Grove nightclub in Boston causes 492 deaths. Area chapters provide services to survivors.

1949
Geneva Conventions are revised with protection extended to civilian victims of armed conflict.

1951
President Harry Truman establishes a federal blood program for national defense purposes and names the Red Cross the official blood collection agency for the military during the Korean War.

1952
The worst polio epidemic in U.S. history peaks with 58,000 cases and more than 3,000 deaths. Red Cross nurses help fight the epidemic in cooperation with the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

1962
The first American Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) staff arrive in Saigon as the U.S. begins a military buildup in Vietnam. The Red Cross remains there until 1972 when the last U.S. troops leave the country.

1972
Hurricane Agnes slams into the eastern United States causing "the worst disaster in American history," according to the National Weather Service at the time. More than 29,000 Red Cross volunteers responded, aiding more than 700,000 people.

1981
The Red Cross adopts the slogan, "Red Cross: Ready for a New Century," as it celebrates its 100th birthday.

1982
The American Red Cross Tissue Services (ARCTS) is established to meet a growing need for tissue.

1989
As the Communist world collapses, the Soviet Union releases documents from Auschwitz and other concentration camps to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the largest such body of information made available since the end of World War II.

1990
ARC Holocaust and War Victims Tracing and Information Center opens in Baltimore, Maryland.

1991
Elizabeth Dole becomes president of the American Red Cross, the first woman to hold the post full time since Clara Barton.

The Red Cross announces plans to transform its Blood Services by completely revamping the way it collects, processes, tests, and distributes blood and blood products.

1992
Hurricane Andrew strikes southern Florida and Louisiana devastating property and leaving thousands homeless Red Cross workers serve 5.6 million meals, house 138,926 people in 488 shelters, and establish 29 service centers.

1999
ARC participates in massiv relief programs for refugees fleeing Kosovo.

Dr. Bernadine Healy named President of the American Red Cross, the first woman physician to hold the post..