History Alive! at New Martinsville Campus

Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, will be featured in a History Alive! program at 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, in Room 110 at the New Martinsville campus of West Virginia Northern Community College.

Barton, who will be portrayed by Karen Vuranch of Fayetteville, W.Va., was the first woman allowed to tend the wounded on the front lines during the Civil War and became known as “The Angel of the Battlefield.” The free program is open to the public.

This West Virginia Humanities Council program is being hosted by the New Martinsville campus Friends of the College and is supported with additional financial assistance from the Office of the Secretary, West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts.

Barton delivered medical supplies, established field hospitals, cooked for the wounded, cleaned operating rooms and cared for the suffering from both North and South. After the war she led a four-year search for missing soldiers. She is well known as the founder of the American Red Cross.

She is one of the many available character presentations offered through the West Virginia Humanities Council’s History Alive! program as a means of exploring history by interacting with noteworthy historical figures. These programs provide audiences with the opportunity to question those who have shaped history.

Historical characterization is the vehicle for this program. Humanities scholars have carefully researched the writings, speeches and biographies of the characters they portray and, whenever possible, use their original words.

The West Virginia Humanities Council is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing educational programs in the humanities for all West Virginians. For more than 35 years, the council has been providing educational programs in the humanities throughout the state.

This program is available to interested nonprofit groups such as libraries, museums and historical societies. For more information call The West Virginia Humanities Council at 346-8500 or visit the website: www.wvhumanities.org.