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Author: Public Record Office Victoria

Records from the Royal Children’s Hospital dating as far back as 1870 are now part of our collection here at the state archives.

The transfer comprises a wide range of historic records created by the Hospital over the last 140 plus years.

Over the course of the last five years, records ranging from hospital minutes and correspondence, to autopsy registers and nurses’ lecture books have all been added to the collection.

The final transfer, which took place earlier this year, includes minutes, agenda and papers of the Committee of Management, patient histories, and nurse training records.

One interesting record we discovered in the collection was this September 1954 edition of the Parents’ Paper.

front page of the parents paper
A copy of The Parents' Paper was found in the collection, VPRS 16876 P1 Unit 1

second page of the parents paperthird page of the parents paper

Costing only One Penny-half-penny at the time, this handy little periodical provided parenting advice from the Young People’s Department, Methodist Church of Australasia. This can be found among the files of VPRS 16876 P1 Unit 1 which contains an assortment of research and information from various conferences that those in the Social Work Department attended at the time. The records were handed over to the Royal Children's Hospital Archives in mid-2007 forming part of their collection.

The new files - completing the transfer of Royal Children’s Hospital’s collection - include:

VPRS 16796 P2     
Minutes of the Committee of Management (1870-1992), Board of Management (1992-1995); Finance and House Committees (1944-1995)
1985 to 1995

VPRS 16804 P1
Minutes and Correspondence of the Medical Staff Association
1891 to 1989

VPRS 16868 P1
Minutes of the Senior Medical Staff and Various Sub-Committees pertaining to the Orthopaedic Section; Correspondence and other Papers
1960 to 1976

VPRS 16876 P1
Records of the Social Work Department
1962 to 2004

VPRS 16888 P1     
Files of the Executive of the Medical Staff Association, Chairman and Secretary's Files
1961 to 2001

VPRS 16900 P1     
Agenda, Minutes and Papers for Meetings of the Board Office Bearers (Board of Management), Previously the Board Executive Committee
1984 to 1995

VPRS 16902 P1     
Minutes, Agendas and Papers of the Board of Management
1990 to 1995

 

Material in the Public Record Office Victoria archival collection contains words and descriptions that reflect attitudes and government policies at different times which may be insensitive and upsetting

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