The Infants’ Home, Ashfield, Records is a collection of records created by The Infants’ Home between 1874 and 2002 and held by the State Library of New South Wales.This collection consists of registers and lists of resident children, children’s admission and discharge information, child health records, family records files, historical and operational records and minutes.
Access Conditions
Former residents of The Infants’ Home or members of their families can apply to The Infants’ Home to be provided with copies of their records. Physical access to The Infants’ Home’s historical records is not permitted due to the fragility of the material and the need to protect confidentiality of other people mentioned. Applications can be made via a form on the ‘History’ page of The Infants’ Home website.
Records
The records are held in three separate manuscript collections at the State Library of New South Wales as the records were transferred at three different times – in 1975, 1995 and 2004. Records in this collection have been digitised and indexed by The Infants’ Home as part of the Records Access Documentation Grants in 2017. The Infants’ Home received a second Records Access Documentation Grant in 2019 to further digitise and index these records.
The collection includes the following records:
Registers and Lists, 1874-1976 (incomplete)
Various volumes record the names of children residing in the home. The registers take on different formats over time. These records are not continuous – there are many time periods where there is no surviving register.
- Records of Inmates, 1874-1877 & 1902-1910 – These volumes are very similar in content to admission books. They contain information such as: name; age; date of admission; circumstances of parents; and reason for admission.
- Admission Book, 1924-1929 – Contains information such as: name; age; date of admission; circumstances of parents; and reason for admission.
- Register of Children in the Home, 1947-1953 – These volumes are very similar in content to admission books. They contain information such as: name; age; date of admission; circumstances of parents; and reason for admission.
- Daily record of children admitted and discharged, 1959-1968 – The register records the names of children admitted to and discharged from the home, and the date and reason for admission and discharge. In some cases, details are given such as by whom admitted, employement status of the mother, and to whom discharged.
- Notifications of Discharge, 1964-1968 & 1967-1970 – Contains a single page entry for each page, usually includes: name, date of admission and discharge. In some cases, details of the person or organisation the child was discharged to are included.
- Notifications of Reception, 1960-1973 – Contains a single page entry for each page. Completed fields on the form include: Address of Home (The Infants’ Home); Name of child; Date of birth; Place of birth; Religion of child; Parents names, marital status, address/es, occupations; Date child received; particulars of arrangements made by parents for clothing and medical attendance; amount agreed to be paid per week in respect of the child; by whom.
- Regulation Register, 1946-1949 & 1957-1960 – These large volumes contain a single line entry per child. The column headings include: Register No.; Name of Child; Date of Birth; Religion of Child; Name, address, occupation and description of parents; or of any person other than the parents from or to whom the child was received or delivered over; Date child received; Date handed over; Particulars of arrangement made by mother for the care of infant; Amount agreed to be paid per week for the child’s maintenance and by whom.
- Resident Children, 1976
Individual Children’s Records, 1946-1991 (two formats)
- Discharges, 1946-1973 – These cardboard folders are individual children’s records and contain any paperwork pertaining to that child including; admission forms, health records, correspondence with parents, guardians, and / or government departments. Information recorded includes admission and discharge dates, child’s DOB, some parent information and sometimes information on who and where the child was discharged to. There is between 10 and 40 pages of information per child.
- Family Records Files, 1974-1991 – These envelopes contain all records pertaining to a family which has used the services of The Infants’ Home, including the child health records described above and any other paperwork pertaining to that family. There is one envelope per family with the mother and siblings listed on the front. The envelopes contain between 10 and 40 sheets of paper detailing admission details, health records and any other records pertaining to the children.
Minutes, 1874-1978
- Minute Books of the fortnightly Committee of Management meetings
- Minutes of Board meetings
- Minutes of Annual General Meetings
Minutes contain information on many topics including; operational issues; staffing issues; correspondence; financial reports; and the fortnightly Matrons Report to the committee. At times the Matron’s Report includes a list of children admitted and discharged that fortnight, as well as any health issues surrounding the children. In the earlier minutes (1800’s and early 1900’s) there are often notes about individual cases that were presented to the committee for consideration. These often contained a brief history of a woman and her child seeking admittance, and contain information including the names of her parents of the child’s father.
Historical and Operational Records, 1874-2002
Approximately 50 volumes including:
- Financial and operational records
- Photographs (unidentified)
- News cuttings
- Miscellanea and physical items – printing blocks, plaques and signs
- Report Books (report and log books of various departments of The Infant’s Home), 1972 – 1979 – These exercise books contain case notes of individual children and mothers, and some medical records
- Letterbooks (copies of letters sent from The Infants’ Home)
