Dr Gillian Clark, Historian My special objects don’t belong to me. They belong to the Foundling Museum in London. They’re small, everyday things – coins, playing cards and small pieces of material. So, why are they special? In 18th century London, poor mothers often left their babies on the street or at a church door because they couldn’t look after them . A man called Thomas Coram wanted to do something for these children, so he opened the Foundling Hospital. Hundreds of mothers came and wanted to leave their babies in the hospital, so the hospital started a lottery system . Each mother took a ball from a bag. If she got a white ball, she could leave her child. If she got a black ball, she was unlucky and couldn’t leave her baby .