CLARA BARTON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 05/20/1908 - HFSID 218026

CLARA BARTON
Clara Barton sends an autograph letter trying to set up a time to meet with General Roscoe G. Wells.
Autograph Letter Signed: "Clara Barton", 1¾p, 4¾x6. Oxford, 1908 May 20. To Roscoe (General Roscoe G. Wells, her assistant at the National First Aid Association of America). In full: "I could not get a letter of (sic, off) to you last night and now I think this line may not even get you at Somerville let I send it. It is decidedly important that I see you in May before Sunday I would have come to you but I had scarcely the strength left to let me do it. So much had come to me of late to do, that I could not get in much more I will expect you both tomorrow and if you can please let it be in such time as will enable me to get at least dispatches [illegible] to N. York before Monday. I will look for a message from you today, and to see you tomorrow. Come when you will & stay as long as you will - With dearest love to Mary Yours Affectionately, but hastily". Handwritten postscript: "I decide to sent this to Boston - Our beloved V.P. knows how glad I would be to see her. But dare not say so She is so leery(?)".Clara Barton (1821-1912), who had served on the battlefields of the Civil War, became acquainted with the International Red Cross of Geneva while working abroad during the Franco-Prussian conflict and established the American Red Cross in 1882. She served as the organization's President until June 16, 1904, when she resigned from her "lifelong presidency". In April 1905, the year before this document was signed, Barton, who had originally planned to organized a Red Cross in Mexico, founded the National First Aid Association of America, which taught first aid classes (likely the reason for the Diplomas mentioned in this letter), developed the original first aid kits and helped to organize community ambulance brigades. She would serve as the organization's honorary President for five years. In 1907, The Story of My Childhood, the first and only volume of her planned multi-volume autobiography, was published. In 1891, Edward and Edwin Baltzley had built a three-story, 30-room home in Glen Echo, Maryland for Barton. Remodeled in 1897 as the headquarters of the American Red Cross, the home temporarily served as a warehouse and was crammed with thousands of items to assist victims of wars and natural disasters. Barton would live in the home until her death. In 1909, the year after this letter was written, first aid training became an essential function of the American Red Cross. Docketed in pencil (unknown hand) on verso. Lightly creased with folds, not at signature. Nicked top edge. Overall, fine condition.