Introduction
Founded in 1881 by Clara Barton, the American Red Cross emerged as the nation’s leading humanitarian organization, offering aid to the U.S. military and their families during the Spanish-American War and later expanding to include domestic peacetime relief work. By 1900, the organization received its first congressional charter, granting full legal standing, and introduced various programs regarding national and international disaster relief, first aid, water safety, and public health nursing programs. The Red Cross today continues to offer support to vulnerable communities impacted by the current global health crisis, such as providing health and mental health services, food distribution, blood drives, and COVID-19 safety training.
The establishment of Red Cross chapters on Delmarva began in the late 1910s and contributed mainly to local humanitarian efforts during wartime and after natural disasters. By the 1920s-30s, Red Cross volunteers on Delmarva provided many community services such as home care, ambulance, and school nursing services and donated a significant amount of supplies to American troops during World War II. The Red Cross on Delmarva today spans over three states— the state of Delaware, Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester counties in Maryland, and Accomack & Northampton counties in Virginia—and continues to provide lifesaving services to more than 1.4 million people on the Peninsula.
This resource guide provides a starting point for researchers interested in the history of the American Red Cross on the Delmarva Peninsula and features various sources from the American Red Cross, Lower Shore Chapter records housed at the Nabb Research Center. Archivists at the Nabb Center have digitized artifacts, manuscripts, photographs, pamphlets, and other sources related to the American Red Cross on Delmarva, which are organized in this guide by topic: World Wars I & II, Nursing, Volunteers, and Junior Red Cross, and Chapter Activities.
Nabb Online Exhibit
- The Power of Humanity: The Red Cross on Delmarva Online ExhibitThe Nabb Research Center’s current exhibit, The Power of Humanity: the Red Cross on Delmarva, features various historic materials from collections at the Nabb and details the long and varied service of the Red Cross on the Eastern Shore. The exhibit showcases historic artifacts, documents, and photographs and is open to all students, faculty, and staff in the Thompson Gallery (located on the 4th floor of the Guerrieri Academic Commons) from January 25 to July 16, 2021.
By clicking the hyperlink above, you will be able to explore The Power of Humanity online exhibit and take a closer look at the materials of the Red Cross on Delmarva.
About the Collections
Listed below are several collections from the Nabb Research Center that include primary documents related to the American Red Cross. Click on a collection title to be taken to the Nabb Center’s Finding Aid Portal to learn more information about the collection and its contents!
- 2012.042 American Red Cross, Hebron Chapter BookThis collection contains a minute book of the Hebron, Maryland Chapter of the American Red Cross written by its secretary, Mrs. Edgar Gordy. The minute book spans March 19 to June 4, 1918. The book describes the activities of the chapter (i.e. the creation of hospital shirts, bandages, shot bags and petticoats). There is a list of name of the 94 members in the chapter.
- 2012.085 American Red Cross, Wicomico County Chapter CertificateThis collection contains a certificate from the Wicomico County Chapter of the American National Red Cross to Mrs. Harry L. Jones naming her a lifetime honorary member of the Board of Directors, dated 1980. The award was presented for Mrs. Jones' work during WWII.
- 2016.095 American Red Cross, Lower Chapter RecordsAmerican Red Cross, Lower Shore Chapter records document the diverse services volunteers from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware have provided in the nearby communities, across the nation, and on foreign soil, especially during the Second World War. Providing home care, medical services, and disaster relief, the organization’s local achievements are represented through chapter forms, meeting minutes, monthly reports, pins, newspaper clippings and photographs. Their national aid is documented via pamphlets and photographs, and their World War II involvement is recorded in their financial records, volunteer logs, donation ledgers, and shipping forms. The records date from the chapter’s founding in 1916 to 2011.
- 2017.001 George Whitehead PapersThe George Whitehead papers document his involvement in public education, philanthropy and volunteerism on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland from 1980-2014 with the bulk of the materials dating from 1990-2014. Dr. Whitehead’s work with the Maryland Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism, Phi Delta Kappa and the American Red Cross is documented through correspondence, newspaper clippings, reports and ephemera.
SC2016.129a American Red Cross Hospital Photograph Album (Evreux, France)
SC2016.129a.141
From the Nabb Research Center's American Red Cross Hospital Photograph Album (Evreux, France) Collection.
SC2016.129a.195
From the Nabb Research Center's American Red Cross Hospital Photograph Album (Evreux, France) Collection.
SC2016.129a.54
From the Nabb Research Center's American Red Cross Hospital Photograph Album (Evreux, France) Collection.
