Incubator babies at Queen Victoria's Jubilee, 1897

The open question

Babies shown at fairs as an attraction, next to the rides. Where were these babies' families, and why were fairs the place for them?

On the record

The exhibit was a success and in 1897, Couney was invited by exposition promoter Samuel Schenkein to host an exhibit at the Diamond Jubilee Celebration for Queen Victoria in London to present his first infant incubator show. In the medical journal The Lancet in 1897, an article titled "The Danger of Making a Public Show of Incubators for Babies" lamented the proximity of infant incubators to animal exhibits and peep shows, concerned that the unsanitary conditions of the animal exhibits would endanger the babies.

Year: 1897
Kind: incubator

Sources

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