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Creator
United States Sanitary Commission
Call number
MssCol 22290
Physical description
.42 linear feet (1 box)
Preferred Citation

United States Sanitary Commission records. American Association for the Relief of the Misery of Battle Fields archives, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library

Sponsor
The conservation, arrangement, and description of the collection was made possible by generous funding from the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust.
Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The American Association for the Relief of the Misery of Battle Fields (AARMB) was the first American branch of the Comité Internationale de Secours aux Militaires Blessés (later known as the Red Cross), founded in Geneva in 1863. The main objective of the parent society was to secure neutrality in time of war for hospitals, ambulances, surgeons, and all persons legitimately engaged in caring for the sick and wounded, by international agreement. The AARMB, founded in 1866 by persons affiliated with the USSC, worked to secure U.S. adoption of the Geneva Convention treaty of 1864, and to promote and support the operations of the international organization. The records of the Association consist of outgoing correspondence, meeting minutes, financial records, and copies of its publications documenting the Association's administrative work, including promotional and fundraising activities, from its founding in 1866 to its effective closing in 1870.

Biographical/historical information

The American Association for the Relief of the Misery of Battle Fields (AARMB) was the first American branch of the Comité Internationale de Secours aux Militaires Blessés (later known as the Red Cross), founded in Geneva in 1863. The main objective of the parent society was to secure neutrality in time of war for hospitals, ambulances, surgeons, and all persons legitimately engaged in caring for the sick and wounded, by international agreement. The AARMB, founded in 1866 by persons affiliated with the USSC, worked to secure U.S. adoption of the Geneva Convention treaty of 1864, and to promote and support the operations of the international organization. It effectively ceased operations in 1870.

The AARMB was organized at the official request of the international society by its secretary, J. Henry Dunant, to USSC president Henry W. Bellows in December, 1865. Its founding members, all of whom bore associations with the USSC, first met officially at the USSC’s Historical Bureau in New York City on January 26, 1866. Elected officers included Henry W. Bellows (President), Howard Potter (Treasurer), and Charles Loring Brace (Secretary). Charles S.P. Bowles, previously associated with the USSC’s European Branch, was appointed its agent in Paris. Bowles had represented the USSC at the Geneva Convention in 1864, being one of two delegates representing the United States with non-signatory powers. John Bowne, formerly head of the USSC’s Hospital Directory, was manager of its New York office located at 23 Bible House, Astor Place. Elisha Harris, M.D. also played an active role in its affairs. The Association’s operations were funded by loans from the U.S. Sanitary Commission and from private donations.

The Association offered advice based on the USSC’s relief work during the Civil War, and raised funds for relief work in Europe during the Franco-Prussian War, but ceased fundraising and other activities in November 1870, believing the efforts of the Geneva organization to be sufficient. The Association was also in contact with former USSC associates such as Thomas W. Evans and Edward A. Crane, officers of the American International Sanitary Committee in Paris. The AARMB was unsuccessful in its lobbying efforts to have the U.S. government ratify the Geneva treaty; that did not take place until 1882, due in large part to the efforts of Clara Barton.

Scope and arrangement

The records of the American Association for the Relief of the Misery of Battle Fields (AARMB) consist of outgoing correspondence, meeting minutes, financial records, and copies of its publications. These materials document the work of the Association’s administration, including promotional and fundraising activities, from its founding in 1866 to its effective closing in 1870. Incoming correspondence is represented only by register sheets listing letters received, 1865-1867. Miscellaneous documents include a fundraising plan in the hand of Henry W. Bellows, and a January 1871 list of AARMB items forwarded to the USSC, which states that Elisha Harris retained incoming letters and a scrapbook for eventual forwarding to the USSC. These are not found in the collection.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by the United States Sanitary Commission to the Astor Library, 1879

Processing information

Compiled by Susan P. Waide, 2013

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Additional resources