Baby in the Box - from loanable baskets to maternity packages exhibition to continue on a smaller scale

Some of the items displayed in the popular Baby in the Box exhibition at Think Corner from 9 November 2017 to 18 February 2018 will be on view at the Helsinki University Museum’s The Power of Thought exhibition until the end of 2018. Where was Finland’s first child welfare clinic? How did Finns learn to identify their children’s diseases in the 1920s? What was a loanable basket? The exhibition will answer these and many other questions.

The Baby in the Box exhibition explores the origins and development of the Finnish maternity package as well as other advances in paediatric health care in the 20th century. The maternity package, also known as the “baby box”, has had a significant indirect impact on public health and the reduction of infant mortality in Finland because the package was available only to mothers who had a health examination before the fourth month of pregnancy.

The Helsinki University Museum features Finland’s most extensive museum collection of maternity packages, including related items from five decades. Of the nine maternity packages included in the collection, two are now displayed: almost all items in the 1981 package as well as the 1969 package, which is part of the museum’s basic exhibition. Also on view is a presentation of images of maternity packages in earlier periods.

University of Helsinki Main Building, Fabianinkatu 33, 3rd floor Open Tue–Thu 12–17, Fri 12–16. Inquiries: 02941 22909 or 02941 24376, yo-museo@helsinki.fi