Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library

The American Red Cross

Previous Red Cross building located at 402 McCallie Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennessee from 1940-1969. (Courtesy of CHCBL – Historical Photo Database)

Each year, the President proclaims March as “Red Cross Month” to raise public awareness and encourage support of the organization through donations of time, money and blood. Volunteers comprise 96 percent of the organization's total workforce, making it possible for the Red Cross to respond to countless disasters each year.

Chattanooga’s Involvement

The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Chapter received its charter three months after the United States entered World War I in 1917. The chapter began as a surgical dressing unit making bandages and dressings for wounded soldiers. Volunteers also provided outstanding services through the railroad canteen located at the terminal station, which is now the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Volunteers worked ten hours each day serving breakfast, lunch dinner, and snacks to hundreds of soldiers. Volunteers were sometimes called in the middle of the night to prepare meals.

Today, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Chapter is one of the largest chapters in Tennessee. Our services range from teaching CPR and first aid to responding to fires, tornadoes and floods. All services provided by the chapter are made possible through generous donations of money and time from the American people.

Consider making a resolution to lend a hand this year and find out how good it feels to wear the Red Cross emblem.

Want to know more about the History of the Red Cross?

Read: A Brief History of the Red Cross
View: A Red Cross History Timeline
Learn: One Hundred Significant Dates in American Red Cross History

Want to Be More Prepared?

Check out Local Health & Safety Training offered by our area Red Cross.
Get Tips on Safe Living
Learn how to Prepare for the Unexpected

Ready to Volunteer or Donate?

Contact the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Chapter at (423) 265-3455 for information on opportunities.
Use VolunteerMatch to locate local Red Cross volunteer opportunities in your community.
Learn More about Red Cross Volunteer Services
Donate

History

J 361.7634 Pol
Pollard, Michael. The Red Cross and the Red Crescent, 1994.

Activism and commitment unite these three international organizations. Especially informative are the facts surrounding the formation of the Red Crescent in Muslim countries. The authors have packed enormous amounts of material between the covers of each book. Descriptions of sources for readers interested in getting involved with these groups are included.

361.763.Gil 1987
Gilbo, Patrick F. The American Red Cross, 1987

Clara Barton

JB Bar
Deady, Kathleen. Clara Barton: a photo-illustrated biography, 2003.

An introduction to the life of the nurse who served on the battlefields of the Civil War and later founded the American Red Cross.

JB Bar
Whitelaw, Nancy. Clara Barton: Civil War nurse, 1997.

Traces the life of the Civil War nurse who cared fro wounded soldiers and earned the title” Angel of the Battlefield.”

DVD B Bar
Clara Barton, 2005

This short work introduces us to Clara Barton, who left her New England schoolteacher’s life to solicit and distribute supplies for the wounded during the Civil War. She helped to establish the American Red Cross.

Video 95:305
Clara Barton, 1995.

This video recording produced and directed by Wolfington Productions, Inc., follows the life of the nurse who served on the battlefields of the Civil War and later founded the American Red Cross.

Blood Banking

362.1784 Sta
Starr, Douglas P. Blood : an epic history of medicine and commerce, 1998.

Starr briefly traces the role of blood in human history, health, and religion down the ages, but focuses on the scientific discoveries of the past couple of centuries that have made blood and its components into a five-billion-dollar a year worldwide business. He discusses the spread of AIDS through contaminated blood, the use of plasma to make drugs, various scandals that continue to erupt, and the latest attempts to make artificial blood.

JB Dre
Mahone-Lonesome, Robyn. Charles Drew, 1990.

A biography of the surgeon who conducted research on the properties and preservation of blood plasma and was a leader in establishing blood banks.

JB Dre
Whitehurst, Susan. Dr. Charles Drew, Medical Pioneer. 2002.

Provides a brief overview of the life and career of African-American doctor Charles Drew.

Stories and Anecdotes of Volunteers

940.5481 Nor
Norwalk, Rosemary. Dearest Ones: a true World War II love story, 1999.

This captivating memoir of a World War II Red Cross volunteer tells of the women and men who served their country abroad while etching a vivid depiction of American spirit and life in war-time England.

940.5412 Gru
Gruhzit-Hoyt, Olga. They also served: American women in World War II, 1995.

This book offers brief sketches of the various organizations in which women served during World War II, including the nursing services; the auxiliaries of the Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard; the American Red Cross; the WASPs; and the OSS.

940.5477 Koc
Kochendoerfer, Violet A. One woman’s World War II, 1994

Kochendorfer joined the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1943 but soon moved to the American Red Cross and saw much of the war and occupation in the European theater as director of service clubs attached to military units in Britain, France and Germany. She provides a rare perspective on a male dominated sphere, much of it in the form of letters she wrote home at the time.

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