Clara Barton Museum

Special Exhibition - "War on Our Doorsteps"
2018-11-03 11:00 - 17:00, 2018-11-02 11:00 - 17:00, 2018-11-01 11:00 - 17:00, 2018-10-27 11:00 - 17:00, 2018-10-26 11:00 - 17:00, 2018-10-25 11:00 - 17:00, 2018-10-20 11:00 - 17:00, 2018-10-19 11:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) and 20 more dates | Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum, 437 7th Street NW, Washington, 20004, United States
When Alexander Gardner’s stunning photographs of the Antietam battlefield were publicly displayed in 1862, they changed how Americans saw war forever. For a limited time, you can relive that sobering exhibition at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office.
A photograph captured in the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam by Alexander Gardner. (LOC)
“Bringing the War to Our Doorsteps” is a temporary installation restaging the exhibition of Alexander Gardner’s photographs taken at Antietam in September 1862. It is a rare chance for visitors to experience what viewers did more than 155 years ago as the Civil War raged.
Display prints have been made to the same dimensions and style of the originals from high-definition digital files made available by the Library of Congress. To enhance the visitor’s experience, there will be a 3-D theatre to view the photos, which were shot with stereoscopic cameras, in the way they were originally intended. Its purpose is to explore the evolving view of war-time photography from the Civil War to today and how modern media has contributed to American attitudes about armed conflict. The exhibition has been extended through November 3, 2018.
It is staged throughout the Missing Soldiers Office Museum, a space where Clara Barton lived and worked during the Civil War era. From her boardinghouse, she founded the Missing Soldiers Office and assisted thousands of grieving families in the search for their missing loved ones at the conclusion of our nation’s bloodiest conflict.
“It is not [for viewers] to bear witness to the fidelity of views which the truthful sunbeam has delineated in all their dread reality,” wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. after viewing the original exhibition in New York City in 1862. “The sight of these pictures is a commentary on civilization such as the savage might well triumph to show its missionaries.”
Visiting the exhibition is included with admission to the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum and is free for Museum members. The exhibition will be on display until November 3, 2018 and will be available during normal operating hours (11:00am – 5:00pm, Thurs-Sat) and by appointment. Contact Director of Programming Katie Reichard for more information about appointments and group visits: katie.reichard@civilwarmed.org or 301-695-1864.
In addition to the exhibition’s extension, the creator of “Bringing the War to Our Doorsteps,” Bob Kozak, will be speaking about the photographs at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office on October 4. It is an exploration of how American society portrayed death at the start of the Civil War, how these photos were received in 1862, and how the coverage of war has evolved since the publication of Gardner’s images into the present day.
For more information about the exhibition, contact Jake Wynn at jake.wynn@civilwarmed.org.

Cut It Off! An Amputation Demonstration at the Missing Soldiers Office
2018-10-28 17:30 - 19:00
The Missing Soldiers Office is partnering with Atlas Obscura to explore the history of amputations and the American Civil War.

Jake Wynn, a Civil War medical historian from the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, will demonstrate Civil War era amputation techniques using a gel leg using authentic 19th-century tools. The leg, made from a forensic gel and simulated bone, looks, feels, and even sounds remarkably like the real thing.
Museum staff will also bring some bone saws, Minié balls, medical kits and other objects related to the history of amputation for us to view. They will be on hand to answer your questions about surgery in the pre-antiseptic, pre-antibiotic era in Washington’s Civil War hospitals.
Wynn will also discuss the medical treatment administered to the tens of thousands of refugees, many of whom were escaping slavery, who arrived in Washington during the Civil War. They were housed in several “contraband camps” in the vicinity of the nation’s capital and the medical care they received differed significantly from that given to wounded and sick soldiers.
Our program will also include a brief tour of the Missing Soldiers Office and the story of how the building was saved from destruction in the 1990s—a tale that has its own ghostly climax.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS:
Photographs are encouraged, but flash photography is not allowed.
This event is easily accessible via public transportation. It’s a three-minute walk from the Archives/Navy Memorial station on Metro’s yellow line and a nine-minute walk from Metro Center station on the red, orange, blue, and silver lines.
For those choosing to drive, metered street parking is available but can be extremely difficult to find. If you plan to drive, please give yourself ample time to locate parking in the area around Capital One Arena.
While not bloody, this event does focus on a gory and violent subject with a realistic simulation. We recommend none under the age of 13 attend this event.
Get Your Tickets Here

Images of War: Self-censorship versus a Search for Truth?
2018-10-04 18:00 - 19:00
Join us at the Missing Soldiers Office on Thursday, October 4th as the creator of “Bringing the Story of War to Our Doorsteps” speaks about Alexander Gardner’s Antietam photographs and war-time censorship throughout American history.
Confederate dead collected for burial (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)
Bob Kozak will be discussing the legacy of the haunting Antietam photographs and how media censorship during war-time evolved during conflicts in the 20th century.
The program will begin at 6 PM at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum. This is a “pay-what-you-please” event and donations for the museum will be collected at the end of the evening’s program.
About “Bringing the Story of War to Our Doorsteps”

“Bringing the War to Our Doorsteps” is a temporary installation restaging the exhibition of Alexander Gardner’s photographs taken at Antietam in September 1862. It is a rare chance for visitors to experience what viewers did more than 155 years ago as the Civil War raged.
Display prints have been made to the same dimensions and style of the originals from high-definition digital files made available by the Library of Congress. To enhance the visitor’s experience, there will be a 3-D theatre to view the photos, which were shot with stereoscopic cameras, in the way they were originally intended. Its purpose is to explore the evolving view of war-time photography from the Civil War to today and how modern media has contributed to American attitudes about armed conflict. The exhibition has been extended through November 3, 2018.
