Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office

The Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office features a narrow, unassuming brick facade on a busy street in downtown Washington. Behind these walls, Clara Barton spent the years after the Civil War identifying twenty-two thousand missing soldiers. She ran a massive search operation from these cramped rooms, using her own money to place newspaper advertisements and write thousands of letters to grieving families. When the building was renovated in nineteen ninety-seven, workers discovered boxes of her original documents, letters, and clothing hidden in the attic.