A Story of the Red Cross; Glimpses of Field Work

A child's request for a story gives Clara Barton a practical way to explain the Red Cross: describe the work it does. Published in 1904, this account looks back over twenty-five years of relief efforts, combining personal recollection with the history of the American organization. Barton describes the long campaign for acceptance of the Geneva treaty and the early challenges of running a society with little money or official support.

The field work makes those institutional questions concrete. Seeds sent quickly to flooded farmland help families plant again, while expeditions in Armenian Turkey carry food and medical supplies and restore tools needed for the harvest. Transport, permits, donations and cooperation all matter to the people waiting for aid. Readers interested in humanitarian work or American history will find an account of how emergency help was organized, with particular attention to restoring the means for communities to support themselves.