Clara Barton is one of the most famous women in American history. So while in 4th grade, it came time for my daughter to do a report on a famous person from history, she chose Clara. What was even more fun was that she wanted to do a slide show of pictures about Clara as she gave her oral report. So, she searched the web for pictures and information about Clara and then I showed her how to load them into iPhoto and how to make a slide show. It was a lot of fun working on this with her and we both learned a good bit about Clara and iPhoto, Garageband and iTunes.

So, I thought I would take her oral report and share some of it in a blog post, along with some of the photos, information and links about Clara that Sarah found.

Clara was born in 1821 in New Oxford, Massachusetts. My parents are Sarah Stone Barton and Capt. Stephen Barton. I have two brothers named David and Stephen and two sisters named Sarah and Dorothy (or Dolly).

This is a picture of the home where Clara was born.

Growing up Clara was a shy girl and enjoyed riding her horse. One day when David was out working on the barn roof he fell and broke his arm. The doctor told Clara that he may die, but she made a wish that he would not and cared for him for several weeks and her wish came true.

Clara’s brother and sister grew up to become teachers. In 1850, Clara became a teacher in this one-room schoolhouse. She earned praise when she refused to physically punish students. Clara liked to think that she left a mark on each school in which she taught, organizing the classroom and drafting lesson plans.

In 1861 when the civil war began I followed the troops taking care of the wounded soldiers. Clara and other women would care for the wounded soldiers by giving them food, bandaging their injuries and writing letters for them to their families.

During the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, Clara saw many wounded and dying soldiers everywhere she walked. They were in barns, in cornfields and even in the Dunker Church. These pictures show some of the wounded soldiers from the Battle of Antietam that she nursed back to health.

Although it is widely believed that Clara was set up on the Joseph Poffenberger farm on the north end of the battlefield, according to Ranger Mannie Clara was actually at the Samuel Poffenberger farm, a little more to the east. This is a modern photograph of the Samuel Poffenberger farmhouse, which is where she stayed for a week or so.

There is a monument at the Antietam National Battlefield to Clara that says:

Beginning in 1870, Clara spent 10 years organizing the American National Red Cross, which was officially incorporated in 1882. Under her leadership, the Red Cross assisted with relief efforts following disasters like floods, forest fires, and earthquakes.

Thanks to Ranger Mannie from Antietam National Battlefield, Ranger Smith from Gettysburg Battlefield and Mr. Joe Korber of the 119th New York Field Music and The Sykes Regulars for information on Clara, photos and music for this presentation.

So, that was the bulk of her report. A few points to consider: 1) Sarah’s school has very little in terms of technology so it was great for her to show the other kids, 2) This provided me a change to help Sarah learn how to research a topic on the Internet, 3) I made sure that she asked permission to use photos and music for her presentation that were not in the public domain and 4) her class got to see a great presentation using technology.

Additional photos and information about Clara are available on the web at these sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Barton
http://www.civilwarhome.com/bartonbio.htm
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm072.html
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/27barton/27barton.htm
http://www.clarabarton.org/

Updated from the old blog:  Check out Sarah’s new project Civil War Sallie who recently visited the Clara Barton home and wrote a two-part blog post on her visit.  Check out Part 1 and Part 2