Happy Women’s History Month! Throughout March, the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum will highlight a notable woman from the Civil War era each week. Join us for Women’s History Wednesdays! Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) “There was both power and sweetness in that great warm soul and that vigorous frame.” –Author Harriet Beecher […]

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) Louisa May Alcott, 1857 Modern Americans remember Miss Alcott primarily as the author of the novel Little Women. Published in 1868, Little Women follows the lives of the four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, on the home front while their father serves as a chaplain during […]

As 2014 draws to a close, many of us are home enjoying the comfort and relaxation of the holiday season. However, not everyone has the opportunity to enjoy these luxuries. Let us be mindful of the men and women who are away from their families this holiday season. Let us also look […]

The celebration of Thanksgiving is an integral and unifying component of American culture. Thanksgiving Day, as we know it in 2014, did not become a national holiday until the Civil War. President Lincoln & Sarah J. Hale On November 29, 1860, the newly-elected Abraham Lincoln shared an unofficial Thanksgiving celebration with his […]

Hello everybody! There are exciting updates at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office (CBMSO) Museum in Washington, DC. New Staff & Volunteers The CBMSO would like to welcome new staff members to the Museum. Emily Peikin transitioned from a summer internship at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine (NMCWM) to become […]

A question that has come up in our tours and amongst our staff as of late has been one of location, location, location: How did Clara Barton, a native of Massachusetts and a schoolteacher in New Jersey, become a U.S. Patent Office clerk in Washington D.C.? It seemed like a bit of […]

The Mad Hatter by Lewis Carroll(Wikimedia Commons) Most of us are familiar with the often nonsensical, flamboyantly dressed Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Most of us are also, no doubt familiar with the expression “mad as a hatter.” Now this expression is not based upon Lewis’s tea drinking, top […]

At the intersection of 7th and E, you’ll find a number of stores, museums, and restaurants. Just this intersection alone boasts a coffee shop, a museum, several restaurants, a liquor store, a frozen yogurt joint, and much more. The nature of the area hasn’t changed in the last 150 years, even if […]

A question that we always hear at the CBMSO is this: Where are the letters that all of these mothers, sisters, brothers, and friends of missing soldiers sent to Clara Barton? The answer is both simple and frustrating: everywhere! You can find them in museums, in the Library of Congress, in university […]

Cover of A List of the Union Soldiers Buried at AndersonvilleAndersonville National Historic Site It is 1867. Dorence Atwater is entering the 22ndyear of his life, and he has already had enough hardship for an entire lifetime. He served in the 2ndNew York Cavalry as a scout during the American Civil War, […]