FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Earle Kittleman: 202-260-3282

December 11, 1997

WASHINGTON, D.C.--A tin sign with black background and gold letters announcing Miss Clara Barton's MISSING SOLDIERS OFFICE which was found recently along with other historic artifacts in a third floor attic in Washington, D.C., gives new proof of Barton's activities following the Civil War and before she founded the American Red Cross.

National Park Service historians and curators, who partially examined some 20 boxes of old newspapers, letters, books, clothing and objects, believe they indicate Barton lived in the building and used it to conduct her humanitarian efforts during and after the Civil War, until she is known to have left for Europe in 1868. Among the artifacts is a broadside listing the names of missing Civil War soldiers, with a notation to contact Miss Clara Barton, Washington, D.C. with any information on the soldiers' whereabouts.

The sign and evidence found in the attic strongly suggest that the room below, "room 9", was Clara Barton's Missing Soldiers Office. Between 1866 and 1868, Miss Barton supervised a staff which received correspondence from families searching for lost soldiers. Lists of missing soldiers were then prepared and published for distribution nationwide to post offices. Persons who knew the whereabouts of the bodies of fallen soldiers would contact Miss Barton's office, which would then get in touch with the family. Occasionally a missing soldier was found alive.

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The materials were found in the attic of a vacant, three-story building at 437 7th Street, which was scheduled for demolition by the current owner, the General Services Administration (GSA) of the Federal Government. A search of the attic on Wednesday, Nov. 19, by National Park Service historians and architectural historians from the District of Columbia Historic Preservation office yielded 10 boxes of Civil War period documents and materials. Additional boxes of materials were received by the National Park Service Monday, Dec. 8, and placed in safekeeping. .

Officials of GSA and the National Park Service have been collaborating to determine the ownership and ultimate disposition of the artifacts. The National Park Service administers Clara Barton National Historic Site, in Glen Echo, Md., which was the headquarters of the American Red Cross for 7 years and Barton's last home where she died April 12, 1912. Many of the Civil War battlefields where Barton treated the wounded are under jurisdiction of the National Park Service including Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md., which has a monument to Miss Clara Barton.

The objects were briefly stored at Ford's Theatre National Historic Site at 511 10th Street near where they were found, but have been moved to temporary storage. Subsequent evaluation by National Park Service museum curators and risk manager resulted in a determination Tues., Dec. 9, that the objects posed a significant health risk due their exposure to rats, insects and pigeons over the past 130 years. As a result, the objects have been sealed pending discussions with GSA and analysis of health risks.

None of the documents or materials found in the attic Nov. 19 could be dated after 1868. All appeared in character to date from the 1860s period--newspapers, government reports and bills to Congress from the 1860s, fragments of mid-Victorian clothing, rugs, textiles, wallpaper, an antique gas meter, old wooden packing boxes, stacks of old lumber, wooden curtain rods, an old hat, a shoe, and detachable collar. A layer of cultural material, paper and fabrics covered the attic floor. No manuscripts or letters were found until later.

Architecturally, the third floor of 437 7th Street survived intact from the 1860s. Robust mid-19th century door surrounds, moldings, and stairways; original stained or grained doors with mid-19th century stenciled numbers; intact wallpaper either from the mid-19th century or later--all suggest a date immediately preceding the Civil War.

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The pre-Civil War construction is confirmed by a hand-riven lathe found on the second floor. The street front of the building was repaired or replaced in the 1970-80s by the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation following damage during construction of the Washington Metro. From Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, ownership of the building passed to GSA. The building was occupied for many decades in this century by Boyce and Lewis Shoe Store. Because of an early fire in the second floor, the upper floors were not used, allowing the third floor fabric to remain intact from the 19th century.

Among the seven boxes of additional historical material received by the National Park Service Dec. 8, three boxes contain Civil War era newspapers up until about 1868. Two boxes contain mostly male clothing from the 1850s-1860s period--two or three black frock coats with, black silk vests, and white pants to fit a very small man. Also included was a dispatch pouch, a small zippered purse, paper boxes that held ink pen points along with an ink bottle, two medicine bottles, mid-19 century advertising signs painted on cardboard, several government reports and Congressional documents, old almanacs, and several early maps.

About two hundred letters written to Edward Shaw were found neatly folded lengthwise into which tiny stamped envelopes had been inserted. Several of the publications have Edward Shaw's name written on them, and there is a piece of wrapping paper with the words Edward Shaw, 488 1/2 7th Street near corner of E, 3rd Story, Room 12.

The 1867 Washington and Georgetown Directory reports both Edward Shaw and Clara Barton living at 448 1/2 7th Street (now 437 7th Street since street numbers changed in 1870). Edward Shaw is listed in room 12; Clara Barton, Room 9. Edward Shaw, born in Massachusetts, was a clerk in the U.S. Patent Office in 1853, and later an assistant examiner. Clara Barton worked at the Patent Office at the same time.

According to Stephen Oates' recent biography of Clara Barton, Ed Shaw saved Clara's job by working late and doing her assignments while she was out taking supplies to the wounded on the battlefields. Barton paid Edward Shaw to do her job at the Patent Office, which allowed her to spend time on the battlefields carrying bandages and food to the wounded and nursing them. In the Clara Barton Papers in the Library of Congress, there is a note receipt for $80 rent that Clara paid to Edward Shaw.

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After the war, Clara used 488 1/2 7^th Street, 3^rd story, room 9 (now 437) as her "Missing Soldiers Office" until 1868, when she shut the office and left for Europe after an exhausting two-year speaking tour. Evidence seems fairly conclusive that room 9 was Barton's office, and perhaps her apartment. It may be that the personal effects found in the attic belonged to Edward Shaw. The letters to Edward Shaw, upon cursory examination, cover the period of the 1850s and relate to Shaw's earlier career as a newspaper reporter and later as a government employee.

Elizabeth Pryor, in her book, Clara Barton, Professional Angel, reports that Barton entered in her diary December 30, 1868, that she that she "moved out of her old rookery of eight years and launched into the world." Barton left for Europe the next spring, leaving behind her old apartment, room 9, on the third floor.

According to preliminary inspection of the materials by National Park Service regional historian Gary Scott, it now can be assumed that Barton at that time, or Ed Shaw or someone else stored materials from her Missing Soldiers Office in the attic above room 9. The entire third floor, except for one wall, is in a remarkable state of preservation. There is no electricity on the third floor, only gas lights.

Also, according to Scott, it now can be assumed cautiously that when Clara left her "rookery", she had spent the entire Civil War period living there, and that it was her base of operations for the battlefield assistance that she gave. It has been known that Barton rented other buildings on 7^th Street to store goods to distribute to the soldiers. The whole period of Barton's activity in the Civil War and her great humanitarian effort toward the wounded appears to have occurred from the 7^th street rooms. However, Scott also stressed the need for further examination of the new artifacts and further research of Clara Barton's papers at the Library of Congress.

"The story of Barton's efforts to located missing soldiers in unmarked or marked graves in the battlefields of the South has not received wide public recognition," said Scott. "The site on 7th Street would help visitors and residents understand this important link in her career which is not covered in her later Red Cross career at Clara Barton House National Historic Site. This is a missing piece of the story of Civil War Washington," Scott said.

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