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Collection of Collections
     —an incomplete selection
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collection:

Hospital history, national social history

Foundling Museum

40 Brunswick Square
London, WC1N 1AZ
UK

www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk

The Foundling Museum tells the story of London’s Foundling Hospital, established in 1739 by philanthropist Thomas Coram as a home for babies at risk of abandonment. On admission to the Hospital, mothers were asked to leave a token with their baby as a means of identification. Ranging from pieces of embroidery to customised coins and jewellery, these everyday yet highly personal objects now form part of the Museum’s Collection.

Red heart token © Foundling Museum

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Collection of Collections collates a selection of great British collections—from those of major institutions to the very personal and idiosyncratic.

Curator Mariah Nielson and designers Åbäke and Thomas Bush are compiling this collection based on personal experiences and curiosities—it is an on-going project that will continue to expand.

These collections were represented in a series of postcards shown in the UK Pavilion at Feria Internacional del Libro which took place from 28 November to 6 December 2015 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Invaluable assistance was provided throughout by Imogen Adams, Abigail Doran and Cecilia Sosa.