Find out more about our project at the Child Care History Network conference – Exeter, 3 October 2014

Today I am excited to announce that I will be giving a talk about our Unexplored Riches in Medical History project at this year’s Child Care History Network conference. The theme of the 2014 conference will be Healing the Wounds of Childhood – the Medical and Psychological Care of Children: Historical and Current Perspectives, and it will be held at the Buckerell Lodge Hotel in Exeter on 3 October 2014.

Click here for the conference website, where you can find the conference programme and details of how to book your place.

Children and staff at St Denys’ Home, Clitheroe, Lancashire, 1919

For my talk I’ll be discussing the Unexplored Riches in Medical History project in more detail. As we’re coming closer to the end of the project, it’ll be a great chance to look at what we’ve achieved so far and what medical information has been unearthed in the archive of The Children’s Society. I’m looking forward to sharing some of the great resources and stories we have here in our archive.

Alongside myself, there will be speakers covering various aspects of the history of children’s health and healthcare. This includes keynote speaker John Stewart, Emeritus Professor of Health History at Glasgow Caledonian University, who will be talking about the history of child guidance.

For more information and to book a place, please click here.

Humidification: water in the archive… on purpose

Today, we have a guest post written by one of our Project Conservators, Rebecca Regan.

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During this project the conservators frequently come across severely crumpled or tightly folded documents within the children’s case files. Sometimes the documents have been squashed in this shape for over a hundred years. They need to be flattened so that they can be read by researchers and archivists. Documents which have to be repaired are also flattened first as this makes the repair process quicker, simpler and more effective.

Many of the documents are very fragile and brittle so this flattening process needs to be done slowly in order to prevent further damage. One of our most commonly used methods is called ‘humidification’. This entails placing the documents in an enclosed container, raising the moisture levels of the air inside the container slightly, in a controlled way, and waiting for the documents to relax sufficiently before unfolding and flattening any distortions.

Trays of documents being humidified

Trays of documents being humidified

Close-up showing the fine water vapour entering the humidification tray

Close-up showing the fine water vapour entering the humidification tray

The opened documents are then allowed to dry out completely while under pressure. Here you can see this being achieved using a traditional nipping press:

Humidified documents being pressed

The documents in the press are protected from surface damage by being sandwiched between layers of heavyweight blotting paper and a special inert plastic material which prevents the damp documents from sticking to the blotting paper.

This document was found wedged at the bottom of an envelope. It was extremely brittle and hard and impossible to unfold even slightly:

Crumpled document at bottom of envelope

Crumpled document removed from envelope

Here is the same document after humidification and pressing.

The once-crumpled document after humidification and pressing

It turned out to be a foster mother’s note about the child in her care. She describes her as a nice girl who is fond of her foster sister.

This photograph shows what can happen if the humidification process is omitted. At some point in the past, these fragile, brittle documents were forced flat. Unfortunately the resulting severe damage is only too evident.

Historical damage to brittle case file

In contrast, here is a case file, after conservation treatment during this current project, where all the brittle documents were humidified before pressing:

Brittle case file after conservation

The case file is now stabilised and easy to handle and read. It has become once more a useful and interesting historical resource.

A funding emergency on the outbreak of the First World War

The First World War had an immediate impact on The Children’s Society (then known as the Waifs and Strays Society). According to our Annual Report for 1914, for the first time in its history the Society took in over 1000 children, partly as a direct consequence of the outbreak of war. (Click the image below to see a bigger version.)

The Waifs and Strays Society Annual Report 1914

Despite fundraising events coming to an abrupt end when war was declared, the Society was not deterred, and it was determined to play a useful part in helping towards the war effort. The Society’s philosophy was

we do not throw ourselves today into “the fighting line” – it is not our place – but we do offer our experience, gained during many years, as a valuable asset “at the base,” – where women’s sorrows and children’s wants are crying out. Our gates are always open to all those who knock at them in real need, and … our door-bell … has been rung incessantly and with intense urgency within the last few weeks.

The nation was in shock, but it was not long before everyone was back at work again, with an overwhelming feeling that every one of the efforts must in some way be linked to the war.  So, rather than dances and fetes (such “frivolous forms of entertainment” were deemed inappropriate in the circumstances) more sober meetings and gatherings, and sales of work continued and provided much needed funds for the Society.

Girls at St Chad’s Home, in Far Headingley, Leeds 1914
The funds raised proved vital as more and more men joined up, leaving increasing numbers of children without guardians. The rise in admissions and the increase in the Society’s costs caused concern, but much good work was done by the Society’s War Emergency Fund which enabled “a really substantial start towards meeting our new obligations.”

Here are a couple of letters we received from supporters in 1914, and which were sent to the editor of our supporter magazine ‘Our Waifs and Strays’.

Dear Sir, – I herewith enclose £5 as a donation to the War Emergency Fund, but I wish to be kept ‘Anonymous’. I have foregone my holiday this year on account of the war, and send you what I have saved in consequence.

Dear Sir, – I enclose postal order for 10s., being a subscription to the funds of your Society from my sister and myself. We are concerned lest, in the necessary demands made by the War Fund, such charities as yours, which are already established and in working order, should suffer. We therefore send part of our subscription to your fund.

The following are just some of the schemes used to raise money for the War Emergency Fund:

The organisation of the Society’s Pageant, small Sales of Work, Meetings, etc.

The Issue of special small collecting purses.

The sale of the Society’s “poster-stamps”.

The organisation of house-to-house collections or special local appeals.

The arranging of “Pound Days” (to provide food and clothing for the inmates of the Homes.

The issue of collecting-boxes, to be placed at church doors, or in shops, or distributed to people for collecting amongst their friends, or for their own weekly donations.

Our Waifs and Strays Supporter Magazine November 1914

(Click the image above to see a bigger version.)

Despite the war the Society decided it would go ahead with its annual Bazaar.  Instead of selling what may be called ‘frivolities’, useful articles, “particularly garments for wounded and convalescent men, for destitute families”, and “for the children in our Homes” would be sold instead.  Many ordinary people contributed items, and in some cases made items to be sold, and acted as sales people for the Society, but that’s a story for another post!

Remembering the First World War

Today marks 100 years since Britain declared war on Germany and the First World War began.

The next four years will be a time to remember and reflect on the war and all those it affected.

Thomas, who was in the care of The Children's Society and later joined up to fight in the First World War, photo dated 1915

People like Thomas, who had entered the care of The Children’s Society (then known as the Waifs and Strays Society) around the age of six. He lived in the Rochdale Home for Boys and left the home in 1903, when he was around 16 years old. Like so many others, Thomas joined the army and went to fight in the First World War. The above photo of Thomas was taken in 1915.

As well as those at the front, the First World War affected those at home, and the Waifs and Strays Society saw many more children coming into care as a result.

We’ll be discussing some of the impacts of the war on the Waifs and Strays Society later in the week, so watch this space.