Threads of Feeling

In "Captive for Christmas" (just released last week; see Books above), I wrote a brief scene between Felicity Drummond and Chandler Rhys in which she shows him a one-hundred year old scrapbook that her grandmothers and mother kept of the orphans who came to live at the family estate over the years. This is based on true fact, and that is what I love about historical fiction -- using facts and events to create a world more rich for the reader.  

archives, Foundling Hospital Museum

sample fragment left with a female child

The Founding Hospital was founded by Thomas Coram who wanted to give abandoned children a decent life. The hospital opened its doors in 1741, and children were accepted anonymously so women were not publicly shamed into abandoning their babies elsewhere.  The mothers were encouraged to leave a small token, which was then added to the admission books with the details of the child. The tokens include ribbons, fabric scraps and baby clothes. The scraps range from plain rough worsted to the occasional piece of fancy silk brocade, indicating the mothers came from all levels of society. 

The exhibit, Threads of Feeling (2008), displayed some of these tiny tokens that mothers left with their babies when they gave them up, and there are over 5,000 pieces in the Museum's archives.  The book, Threads of Feeling, by John Styles is still listed in Amazon,  and in the Sept/Oct 2010 issue of Selvedge Magazine (UK), Shelley Goldsmith wrote a wonderful article about the exhibit.