145 Years of Red Cross Photography Exhibit
July 16 to August 17, 2008
145 YEARS OF RED CROSS PHOTOGRAPHY:
A Memory of Humanity
An Exhibition from the American Red Cross Bay Area and the Presidio Trust
美国红十字会创建于1881年，国会在1890年正式承认这一组织，并给它制定了正式章程。该文件规定红十字会应如何工作以及它的工作范围。
美国红十字会在第一次世界大战中，几乎成为美国部队的一部分。大战期间，该组织改变了它保持中立的政策。红十字会给敌军伤员治疗，但救护人员不愿越过战线去帮助他们。红十字会工作人员还帮助美国士兵与其在国内的家属取得联系，这是红十字会给美国军人服务的开始。
今天的美国红十字会拥有大约23万领工资的工作人员，但它主要依靠无偿工作者。有50万美国人接受训练担当红十字会志愿人员。美国红十字会完全独立于政府，其所有的资金均为公民及企业的礼品赠送。红十字会的服务是免费的。帮助军人家属和退伍军人，仍然是红十字会最大的任务之一。它还以采血而知名。这项工作始于二战期间，红十字会要求平民献血帮助伤员。和平时期该项工作仍继续进行。
或许红十字会是以它在发生灾害时所进行的抢救工作而知名的。它为火灾、暴风雨、洪水和地震等的受害者提供各种紧急救护。一位救灾专家说：“几乎美国每一个镇上都有红十字小组。他们的行动同坏消息的传递一样快。”
Presidio Officers’ Club Exhibition Hall
50 Moraga Ave
San Francisco, CA 94129
July 16 – August 17, 2008
Wednesday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Presented by the American Red Cross Bay Area and the Presidio Trust, 145 Years of Red Cross Photography: A Memory of Humanity features photographs selected from the archives of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva.
The International Committee for the Red Cross was founded in 1863, born at a time when photography was emerging as a means to document history. As the Red Cross grew throughout the world, its humanitarian workers collected what they and others in the field were seeing on film, presenting an emotionally powerful testament that visitors can experience through the more than 80 photographs chosen for this exhibit. The exhibit begins with photographs from the battlefields of Solferino, Italy in the mid-19th century and continues on to document medical facilities, orphanages, refugee camps and POWs from countless conflicts, including the current war in Iraq.
The exhibition began its worldwide tour in Boston earlier this year and concludes the U.S. leg with its visit to San Francisco, the only location in California to feature the exhibit. The exhibit will be traveling next to St. Petersburg, Russia.
Serving as a powerful reminder of war’s impact on humanity, this exhibition showcases photographs from 145 years of armed conflict around the world as seen through the eyes of the humanitarian workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Photographs were selected from the archives of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. The stark imagery shows the strength of the human spirit amid the harsh realities of war and underscores the pressing need for ongoing humanitarian action in today’s conflicts.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
at the Presidio Officers’ Club
Journalists on Dangerous Assignment
Friday, July 25, 2 pm
Providing Relief for the Displaced
Thursday, July 31, Noon
International Humanitarian Law in Times of War
Friday, August 1, 2 pm
