Leaflet, 'The School Lunch'

This leaflet produced by the New Zealand Department of Health addresses children's nutrition and recommended food for school lunches. The black and yellow cover features a 'Little Miss Muffet' illustration with a young girl, a spider, and the title 'The School Lunch'. Inside the leaflet are small illustrations and suggestions for filling the school lunch box, a two-week schedule of sample lunches, and recipes for sandwiches.

Significance

This leaflet is part of a collection formerly owned by the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society, and by the time it was produced the Society was concerned with a variety of child healthcare issues, such as nutrition. The leaflet would have been available from Plunket rooms or given out by Plunket nurses.

The Royal New Zealand Plunket Society

Sir Frederick Truby King founded the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children in 1907 in an effort to improve childcare standards, and it is still active today. It is, however, more commonly known as Plunket, after Lady Victoria Plunket, wife of the Governor of New Zealand at the time of the Society's establishment and a great supporter of King's work. In 1980, the Society officially changed its name to the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society.

Acquisition

In the late 1980s, Te Papa received a collection of objects and ephemera from the Plunket Society, including promotional leaflets, a 'Well Child' baby book, and a set of scales for weighing infants. These items date from different periods in the history of Plunket, from its inception in 1907 to the time of this acquisition.