09 November 2022
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The Foundling Hospital, Holborn, London: a bird's-eye view. Coloured engraving after L. P. Boitard, 1753 © Wellcome Collection, CCASA 4.0
The Coram Story charity is digitising its archives documenting the live of Foundling pupils from the Foundling Hospital’s opening in 1739, through to 1910, and has issued a call for volunteers.
Coram Story explores the history and heritage of Coram, which was established as the Foundling Hospital in 1739 and continues today as the Coram Group of charities, supporting children and young people from birth to independence.
Established by Thomas Coram as The Foundling Hospital in 1739, the archives of the hospital contain some half a million documents dating from the 1730s through to today. The archive reveals the details of the lives of the children in its care and the way in which the Hospital operated from its inception in the 18th century.
Can you help?
The team at Coram is digitising 112,000 images from the Foundling Hospital archives and have issued a call for volunteers. The items include letters from mothers appealing for their children to be admitted to the Hospital, fabric tokens that mothers left as a symbol of their connection to their children, and the details of the everyday lives of children cared for there.
Once the transcription project is completed, the records will be become available on the Coram website for everyone to access.
For more information on registering as a volunteer, visit the Coram website. You can also watch this two-minute volunteer video: