item details
Overview
This is a bound book of 'Mother and Child' journals from Volume 1 August 1920 Number 2 to Volume 2 July 1921 Number 7. The cover is green-blue and has a bookplate pasted on the front. The bookplate is white with the title 'New Zealand Royal Society for the Health of Women and Children' in black. Below this is a red logo with the image of a woman holding her child surrounded by the motto 'To help the mothers and save the babies'.
The title page of the first journal has the title 'Mother and Child. A magazine concerned with their health' and an image of a painting of a mother and two children. Below this reads 'Published by the American Child Hygiene Association, Baltimore'. The journals feature articles to do with motherhood and infancy, recent literature, information on affiliated societies, and new laws.
The contents of the journals deal with international information on infant care, demonstrating that Plunket was aware of developments in this field outside of New Zealand.
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.
The Plunket logo
This book was owned by an affiliate of the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society. The bookplate on the front cover features the logo used from about 1914 to the 1920s. The woman in the logo has a contemporary 'Gibson Girl' hairstyle. This logo was adapted from the larger original Plunket logo that was used from 1908 to 1914. The motto 'To help the mothers and save the babies' was retained in Plunket logos until the late 1980s.
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.