Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office — Attraction in Washington

This little museum is a hidden, valuable gem among the other blockbuster museums in DC. The story of its rediscovery some 150 years, after its location was lost, is worth the visit. This preserved "rooming house" where Ms. Barton lived and worked is a great look into everyday life in post-Civil War Washington. The video presentation is free, and the upstairs tour of the old Missing Soldiers Office is worth every penny of the entrance fee. It is near the National Portrait Gallery (once the U.S. patent Office where Clara worked) and the National Building Museum, and together they make a great trio for an unusual and off-the-beaten-path morning or...

Clara Barton is a personal hero of mine and seeing the space where she did a lot of her work and lay the foundations for the American Red Cross was amazing! The staff was so kind and loving. It was so wonderful to walk where she walked and see where she impacted the country. She is such an amazing woman and we are so lucky to have all of her property to look through. Also the way that the space was discovered is so fascinating! I highly recommend going to this location especially since it's...

The office of Clara Barton is open 11AM-4:30PM on Friday and Saturday. Entry is 10$. Hee offices are on the upper floors of the old building. Here you will get to see where she and her staff did a lot of their work as well as some of the letters from desperate family members seeking the whereabouts of their missing kin. It is amazing that she was able to organize the things that she did from this rather spartan location and did so without the benefit of even being...