10 interesting facts about Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross

Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross

In honor of Women's History Month, Carol Starre-Kmiecik visited the Mentor Library to talk about the life of Clara Barton, battlefield nurse and founder of the American Red Cross, while in character as Clara.

Here are just 10 things we learned from her talk:

1. We know her as Clara Barton, but her full name is Clarissa Harlowe Barton. She was named after a character from the novel Clarissa or the History of a Young Lady, which her aunt was reading when Clara was born in 1821.
2. Clara grew up on a farm in Oxford, Mass. When she was six, she saw an ox slaughtered for food and was a vegetarian from thereon.
3. When she was eight years old, a phrenologist—one who surmises a person's psychology using the shape of their patient's head—predicted that Clara would "always be good and helping people." (It was also a phrenologist that later recommended she become a teacher to overcome her shyness.)
4. When she was 11, her brother, David fell from the roof of their family barn. Clara was tasked with caring for and feeding him. She also leeched him twice a day for two years. It was not until a visiting doctor told them to stop leeching him that David recovered. This was Clara's first exposure to tending for the wounded.
5. Clara became a teacher at the age of 16. Later, when she was 30, she opened a free school in Bordentown, New Jersey, where there had only been subscription schools before. Under her lead, the school's attendance grew to more than 600; but its board still hired a man (with less experience than Clara) instead of her as principal (and paid him more than her.) She left the school soon thereafter.
6. Afterward, she got a job as a clerk in the U.S. Patent Office. In fact, she may well have been the first full-time female employee of the federal government. As you may have guessed, some of her male coworkers treated her poorly—even going so far as to spit tobacco in her skirt.
7. When the Civil War began, she worked as a battlefield nurse. One of the soldiers to whom she tended told her, "This is the second time you saved my life." He then explained that she had been his teacher in New Jersey. Clara risked her own life by being on the battlefield. Once, a bullet went through her sleeve and killed the soldier behind her.
8. Clara was first introduced to the International Red Cross when she visited Switzerland while recovering from a nervous breakdown after the war. When she recommended joining the Red Cross to President Rutherford B. Hayes, he disapproved. However, when she suggested starting an American Red Cross to his antecessor, President Chester Arthur, he loved it. Clara was named its first president in 1881.
9. When Clara moved the American Red Cross headquarters from Washington D.C. to Glen Echo, Maryland, she would often make the volunteers lunch using food grown in the office's garden.
10. Clara lived to be 91. Her last words: "Let me go."

For more information on Clara Barton, check out a book or two from our collection.

Learn about the history of women in aviation at Mentor Library

Queens of the Air: Amelia Earhart, Ruth Nichols and Louise Thaden

What better way to celebrate Women's History Month than to recognize women who defied gravity.

Mentor Library is celebrating the women of aviation during a special program at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 2, at the library’s Main Branch.

And Northeast Ohio houses one of the greatest resources in the world for learning about the history of female pilots, the International Women’s Air & Space Museum (IWASM) at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland.

The museum also has stories, photos, memorabilia and artifacts from more than 6,000 women who have done some amazing things. IWASM Board President Connie Luhta, who is both a pilot and a flight instructor, will share some of these stories at the library on Monday.

She will talk about some of the women who have soared—both local and international, famous and less familiar—including a hot-air balloonist who performed at Napoleon Bonaparte’s wedding and Marge Hurlburt, an English teacher at Harvey High School in Painesville who set a speed record for women before dying during an air show in Iowa. Hurlburt also served as a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) in World War II.

Luhta’s talk is free and open to everyone. To sign up for the program, call Mentor Library at 440-255-8811 ext. 216 or register on the library's online event calendar.

Celebrating Women who Rock at Mentor Library

From Janis Joplin to Joan Jett, Aretha Franklin to Alicia Keys—Mentor Public Library wants to reward its patrons for knowing women who rock.

We are celebrating Women’s History Month with a trivia game and someone who knows their women rockers can win a $25 iTunes gift card.

Patrons can play anytime in March. If you check out two items at our Main Branch—any two items, including books, CDs and DVDs—and take the receipt to the library’s reference desk, you'll be able to play.

The library has a poster featuring 30 different singers, musicians and groups displayed in its first floor. If you can identify all 30 artists, then you will be entered into a raffle to win the iTunes gift card

Of course, you can also celebrate women’s history any time by checking out the uncountable classic books, music and films created by women.