as a refuge for abandoned children. It was the sole institution responsible for taking in illegitimate children in the London area for a period of well over 120 years. Coram had been appalled by the number of dead and dying babies on the streets of London. Admission to the new hospital was at first limited because of lack of funds. Infants were to be less than two months old and in good health. Once a child had been admitted they were baptised and given a new name and boarded out to a dry or wet nurse in the country. On reaching the age of three, they were returned to the hospital to receive basic schooling before eventually being apprenticed out to trades or service or enlisted in the armed forces. From 1760 the mother was required to submit a written petition detailing her circumstances: these documents provide a valuable resource for social history. Other documents include records of the lives of the children, nursing methods, apothecaries' prescriptions, and inspectors' reports. Some parts of the collection have been returned to the Coram family, while more modern files concerned with the Berkhamsted site are at Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies. City of London Corporation The records that were formerly held by the Corporation of London Record Office and now held at the LMA have been re-catalogued and are now arranged in two distinct sections. Records with the prefix COL are the administrative and corporate records of the City of London Corporation. Included in this section are the repertories, journals and letter books from the courts of Aldermen and Common Council, records of those receiving the freedom of the City of London from the Chamberlains department as well as numerous plans from the planning and surveyors departments. Records with the prefix CLA are deposited collections from organisations and bodies that operate in close association with the City of London Corporation. This series includes records of many of the bridges across the Thames and particularly Tower Bridge, many markets including Smithfield, Billingsgate, Spitalfields and Leadenhall, and a number of courts such as Mansion House and Guildhall Justice Rooms and Southwark coroner's court. Records of particular interest in this series are the records of the City of London Sessions, these include criminal trials held before the London jury at the Old Bailey. Another series of particular interest are the records of the City of London