A Few More Missing Soldiers Office Artifacts

     This weekend I took some artifacts out to the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office in Washington DC.  While we do have the space open to the public on weekends, we’re still raising funds for display cases and a security system for the building.  Until then, we cannot put any long-term artifact displays there.  I was able to take a few artifacts out for a specific tour though. 

     A group of teachers from around the country came to the CBMSO with a tour from Brightspark Travel. On their tour they heard about Clara Barton’s life in Washington DC, and her work in forming the Missing Soldiers Office.

Here, Tom tells some of our visitors about Clara Barton’s private room. 

 

We also now have an area for our visitors to take selfies – complete with a writing desk similar to the type Clara Barton would have used, reproductions of the Missing Soldiers Office forms she sent out to families, and a life-sized cut-out of Clara!

     The members of the tour were also able to view a few of the artifacts which were found in the building.  The teachers on the tour seemed very interested in them, and I enjoyed being able to tell them a little more about the artifacts.

     All the items I took to display were found in the building – most of them packed in boxes in the attic.  Some of the boxes contained items which belonged to Clara Barton, while other boxes belonged to her friend and landlord, Edward Shaw.   

On display were a portfolio of envelopes from a writing set, a man’s slipper; the original tin sign Clara Barton posted on the front of this building to advertise her Missing Soldiers Office; a bent Enfield rifle bayonet which could have been used as a pry bar or could have been part of her relic collection from Andersonville Prison; and two socks which she was probably having mended to send back out to the soldiers.

Here you can also see a small steel sewing thimble and a portion of conserved gas line from the building.  Also on display was a panel from a wooden crate, addressed to the Commissioner of Patents.  On the opposite side it is labeled "Shaw", with the address, "488 1/2 7th St. over Steens." It is likely that Clara reused such crates to send supplies to the soldiers on the battlefields.

     The artifact display was quite popular!  I’m looking forward to the time when we can have artifacts on display out there more permanently!  In the meantime, the CBMSO will be closed starting November 24, 2014 through January 15, 2015 and will reopen on January 16th.  We’re also planning a re-dedication of the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office in the spring of 2015.  I hope you can come out for a visit!  

Photos courtesy of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.

Raising Funds for Clara Barton

     It’s time for another update on the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office!  The building is now open Friday through Sunday each week.  Visitors can tour the restored space where Clara Barton lived and worked while she was running her Missing Soldiers Office.  On the first floor, they can learn more about Washington D.C. in Clara’s time, and about the many ways that Clara made a difference in this world.  On the third floor, they can climb the same staircase, walk the same hallways, look out the same windows, and pass through the same doorways as Clara Barton.  And while this all makes for a great tour, there is still one thing which would make it an even better experience for visitors – artifacts!

I’m sure everyone wants a chance to see the original Missing Soldiers Office sign in person!  Artifact on loan from the U.S. General Services Administration.

     This is not due to a lack of artifacts available for display.  If you’ve been keeping up with our efforts to open this space to the public, you’ve seen pictures of some of them already.  If you’ve missed it, take a look at some of the Barton artifacts here.  

     As you can see, we have the space and we have the artifacts.  So what’s the problem?  We don’t have an adequate security system, display cases, or additional lighting for displaying the artifacts.  All of these things cost money, and as I was reminded many times while growing up, money does not grow on trees!  So, how does a museum raise the funds to display their artifacts?

     We charge a small admission fee of course, but that really only helps to cover the existing expenses of running the museum.  There are grants too, and we applied for and were awarded some grants which allowed us to get the building to the point where it could be opened to the public.  The rest comes from donations – from businesses as well as from individuals.  Our challenge is in getting the word out to the potential donors.  This is accomplished through appeals to our museum members, special events at the museum, and through the use of social media.  The museum’s website is probably the first place you would go to find more information about the CBMSO, here. 

     We also have a blog dedicated to the Missing Soldiers Office which you can see here.  

     Of course we have a Facebook page too.  Click here.  

  

Clara Barton - from a portrait taken in Civil War and authorized by her as the one she wished to be remembered by – Library of Congress image.

     So, you can see that we are working hard to spread the word about the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office!  The more support we get, the sooner we will be able to display artifacts there.   I know I am looking forward to that day!