I spent the afternoon without the Cub today at The Foundling Museum looking at the exhibition 'Threads of Feeling'. I'd been told by so many people that I had to go. Apparently it's right up my street and I would love it. They were so right. It's an incredibly touching, emotive exhibition and I really urge anyone who can to go and see it before it closes this Sunday.
In 1739, Thomas Coram founded The Foundling Hospital. A place for women to leave their babies when they couldn't look after them themselves. Heartbreakingly, some mothers didn't want anything to do with the babies again and just deposited them at the hospital - end of story. Others though had dreams of one day being reunited. When they left their babies they left a token, often a special ribbon or bit of fabric attached to the registration forms. The fabrics were kept as a way of establishing an indentifiable link between the child and it's mother. The hospital kept all of these tokens and have now created an exhibition showcasing the tokens and letters that were left with the abandoned children. Very moving and also if you're interested in textiles a fascinating show of never seen before 18th century fabrics.
Images taken from the exhibition, showing bits of fabrics left with the babies
Threads of Feeling
www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk
40 Brunswick Square. London. WC1N 1A
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