Although originally conceived as a place of care for abandoned children, the Foundling Hospital acquired a wider cultural importance when one of its founders, the artist William Hogarth, had an ingenious idea. "At that time there were no public spaces for artists to exhibit in Britain," explains the Foundling Museum's Rhian Harris. "Public galleries didn't exist until the early 19th century. The only places where artists could show their own work was their own studio."

Hogarth encouraged contemporary British artists, including Gainsborough and Reynolds, to donate works of art to the Hospital and opened it to the public. "Between 1740 and 1760, therefore, the Foundling Hospital became the first ad hoc art gallery in this country," says Ms Harris. The cultural experience was heightened by benefit concerts given by Handel and other musicians in the hospital chapel.

The art and music generated great interest. "It became fashionable to be involved with the Foundling Hospital," says Ms Harris. "Anybody who was anybody - artist, musician, financier, even the architect designed the building for free - got involved and gave something for free."

Because of its fashionable status, the Foundling Hospital also had access to the greatest medical minds of the time. Dr Richard Mead was the Hospital's honorary physician and Dr Cadogan introduced enlightened ideas, such as not advocating swaddling to improve the care of foundling children.

In the 1950s the Foundling Hospital began a new life as the Thomas Coram Foundation with its headquarters at 40 Brunswick Square, moving next door to refurbished premises in 1998. Now a modern children's charity called the Coram Family, the organisation continues to provide a range of services for vulnerable children.

The building at 40 Brunswick Square is being refurbished to house the Foundling Museum. "Although it's a 1930s building, we've got the three fantastic 18th-century interiors and staircase from the original building in Lamb's Conduit Fields," says Ms Harris. "Now we need to create new exhibition spaces, cafés and disabled facilities." In addition to the art and music collections, there will be permanent and temporary exhibitions, and an education centre for young people.

The Wellcome Trust support is for an exhibition, 'The Life of the Foundlings', which looks at the daily life of a foundling child over three centuries. "We'll look at their regular routine, how they lived, what they ate, what they wore, their education, and their life after the Foundling Hospital: most of the girls became servants and the boys were put in apprenticeships or went into the military," says Ms Harris. "The section will include recordings of foundlings who are still alive today - one of whom is in his 90s and lived in the original hospital - as a resource for perpetuity. It was an extraordinary institution, and the exhibition is a rich source of social history which captures many aspects of London life."

The Foundling Museum's archive is stored at the London Metropolitan Archives and is open to the public.

See also

• History of Medicine Public engagement grants: Background information

External links

• The Foundling Museum on the Coram Family website
• London Metropolitan Archives