Hi Gals,
Just to let you know I went to the Foundling Museum today. Started by Thomas Coram and supported by Hogarth and Handel, it was a hospital, fostering resource, and school for those children who would otherwise be abandoned often by poor single mothers with no means of support. It was extremely sad and quite heart breaking, especially to hear the experiences of the children who suffered harsh regimes and discipline with little love or comfort in their lives. Their stories in the Foundling Voices exhibition are very moving. I have some contacts for the Archive and Education Dept, but I feel that the history has been well trodden with lots of arts responses, and as is right, a lot of the best work has been done by the children and adults who experienced the institution first hand. Interestingly, Grayson Perry was their Foundation artist for a year. Historically of course it was also a resource for training domestic servants, and fodder for the armed services and artisan apprenticeships. Standards of care did not really become more humane until after the 2nd world war. I understand that all their archives are looked after by the London Metropolitan Archive, probably the same one Kate mentioned. A Philanthropic enterprise with some difficult/ambivalent outcomes!
Don't forget to look at the Horniman Museum website before we meet tomorrow, lots of collections and 100 favourite objects. See you at 2pm. Coral
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