National Birthday Trust Fund

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0120 SA/NBT
Held at	: Wellcome Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://wellcomelibrary.org/ ›
Full title	: National Birthday Trust Fund
Date(s)	: 1928-1993
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 213 boxes, 11 outsize folders and 1 roll.
Name of creator(s)	: National Birthday Trust Fund
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The National Birthday Trust Fund (NBTF) was established in 1928 and campaigned in the 1930s for the wider provision of analgesia in childbirth and improvements in midwifery services. Through the Joint Council on Midwifery it conducted extensive surveys on the benefits of ante-natal care and nutrition and an important survey of abortion practice (the collection includes the completed questionnaire forms). After the war it contributed to several government reports on maternity provision, provided research grants for various projects connected with congenital defects and maternity services, and conducted a series of surveys, including a survey into premature births (for which there are completed questionnaires). These culminated in the Perinatal Mortality Survey in 1958, which formed the basis for the cohort studies of the development of the children at seven year intervals. The collection includes the administrative records for the Perinatal Mortality Survey and the similar study, the British Births Survey, 1970. In 1993 the NBTF was amalgamated with the charity Birthright which works in the same area of maternal and infant care.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of the National Birthday Trust Fund (NBTF), 1928-1993, comprising minutes; committee papers; records of annual general meetings; accounts; administration including maintenance of the building; correspondence relating to members, other organisations and individuals; fundraising and publicity; records relating to analgesia; records of research projects funded by the NBTF; reports to outside bodies; surveys; records relating to the Perinatal Mortality Survey, 1958; records relating to the British Births Survey, 1970; press cuttings; miscellaneous papers; administrative records of the Joint Council On Midwifery; records relating to the Abortion Survey conducted by the Joint Council On Midwifery; records relating to the Nutrition Survey conducted by the Joint Council On Midwifery; personal papers of Juliet, Lady Rhys-Williams DBE (1898-1964), founder member and Chairman for a period until her death; and records relating to non-NBTF organisations.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Some re-arrangement of files has been necessary to amalgamate files of correspondence or papers relating to one subject. Press cuttings have been listed together but some can be found in files with other papers. Photographs have been left with the papers with which they were found.

Conditions governing access:

The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner, the Wellcome Trust.

Finding aids:

The catalogue to this collection is not available in electronic format. Please see the hard-copy catalogue in the Wellcome Library. Copies of the catalogue are available on request. The catalogue is also available on microfiche via the National Inventory of Documentary Sources (NIDS).

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The majority of these records were given by Mrs M C Matthews, Secretary to the NBTF, in 1987. A further accession of survey questionnaires was collected in 1988. Material up to the date of amalgamation with Birthright was received in 1993-1994. Personal material of Lady Rhys-Williams was given by the family in 1993.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Papers relating to the political career of Lady Rhys-Williams are held by the London School of Economics.

Publication note:

Medical History article by P A Baker, 1989 Vol 33 489-494

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Anya Turner.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
June 2008