Threads of Feeling

While I won't pretend to any knowledge of the London Foundling Hospital, other than what history is easily located online, I do know however that when parents left their infant children at the hospital they often left some identifying article, a coin, a locket, a length of ribbon or piece of cloth, in case their circumstances changed, the parents would use this to identify their children. In true British attention to detail, all information was dutifully transcribed, recorded and kept for the ages.

The Foundling Hospital Archive has created an online exhibition of some of the fabric pieces left behind, Threads of Feeling. Very little of each individual story is available but not shown, however the many image of a scraps of ribbon or cloth meant to identify abandoned newborns is heart breaking. A picture is worth a thousand words.

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