Our new piece in The Conversation sheds light on how infant remains in medical museums were often acquired under troubling circumstances.

Many came from marginalised families — frequently without consent — shaped by inequality, stigma, and eugenic thinking that devalued certain lives while privileging their “scientific value.”

These histories force us to reflect on present-day responsibilities around care, display, and transparency in collections.

Some of the babies from by the medical school at the University of Otago were acquired from the Home of Compassion in Island Bay in Wellington. It was a home for foundlings who were abandoned, illegitimate, and disabled children. Home of Compassion Archives