American Red Cross

The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the designated US affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the United States movement to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The organization offers services and development programs. American Red Cross National Headquarters Clara Barton established the American Red Cross in Dansville, New York on May 21, 1881, and was the organization's first president. She organized a meeting on May 12 of that year at the house of Senator Omar D. Conger (R, MI). Fifteen people were present at the meeting, including Barton, Conger and Representative William Lawrence (R, OH) (who became the first vice president). The first local chapter was established in 1881 at the English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Dansville. Jane Delano (1862–1919) founded the American Red Cross Nursing Service on January 20, 1910. Clara Barton Barton founded the American chapter after learning of the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1869, she went to Europe and became involved in the work of the International Red Cross during the Franco-Prussian War. She was determined to bring the organization to America. Barton became President of the American branch of the society, known as the American National Red Cross in May 1881 in Washington. The first chapters opened in upstate New York, where she had connections. John D. Rockefeller and four others donated money to help create a national headquarters near the White House. The abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a friend of Barton's, offered advice and support as she sought to establish the American chapter of Red Cross. As Register of Deeds for the District of Columbia, Douglass also signed the American Red Cross's original Articles of Incorporation. Barton led one of the group's first major relief efforts, a response to the 1881 Thumb Fire in Michigan's Thumb region.