I finished working on TURN: Washington's Spies on Saturday, February 27th at 10PM.  I got up super early that day to clean up and get out of my apartment on Elwood Ave.  We were shooting two units that day and I had a 9A-ish call time.  I also had a job interview for another show that morning.  My boss on TURN said I could come in an hour or so late, so that I could go to the interview.  Season 3 went well overall.  So thankful and glad to be on such as great show about history, which is so very important to me.

After wrap, I drove back to our farm in Northeastern NC.  Got in around midnight, had a beer and went to bed.  The next day would be busy at best.  I had do get up early and drive to Atlanta for a new job that started on Monday, February 29th.  I will be working down here until the beginning of April.  It's OK, not great.  Too far from home.

I received 3 emails this week regarding Brookfield.  One was from a woman who had a baby there and was reunited with her child years later.  One was from a woman who had a baby there in the 1960s, and one was from a woman who was born there in 1950 and is looking for info.  We are all connected by this place.

Time is what I have very little of these days.  I will be back in RVA in early April to work on the PBS show Mercy Street.  Planning now to do some audio and video interviews during the 3 months that I will be in town.  Specifics are still be ironed out.  More to come.
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A few days ago I had a nice conversation with a woman who said she was born at Brookfield in 1944.  She was delivered by Dr. Gwen S. Hudson, a female OBGYN.  Dr. Hudson specialized in babies born to unwed mothers, apparently writing several papers in medical journals about the subject.  She had a practice in the Medical Arts Building.  The woman said she was born at Brookfield and that her birth mother was 16 and her birth father was a young serviceman.  She was placed at the VA Home Society and was adopted to a wonderful, loving family at 8 months of age.  Her adoptive mother went to the Glen Allen Brookfield location in the late 1970s inquiring about birth records and was told that personal patient records had been burned.  I have heard this from several people saying the records were burned or otherwise destroyed.
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Following is a list of materials and resources I have used in my research so far:

• Virginia Historical Society
  • Report from Child Welfare League from 1939
  • Transcript from local radio broadcast about Brookfield from 1942
    • Question:
      Good afternoon.  I am looking for an audio recording of a radio broadcast on
      WBMG radio in Richmond in 1942. It is a story about the Brookfield Home for
      Girls.  The transcript of this broadcast is in the Alexander Weddell papers
      at VHS.  The transcript is in Box 37 of those papers.  I was wondering if the
      audio existed and how can I listen to it?  Also, was wondering how to get a
      copy of the transcript from the broadcast.  Also looking for any other
      material you have related to Brookfield.  Thank you.
• Library of VA
  • Didn't have anything at first look, but planning on digging deeper there.
    • From LVA:
      • I don’t see anything in our catalog, but let me ask someone in Archives if they have other suggestions.  If it was a private institution, we may not have much.  
        Did you try the Valentine?  Their mission has always been more Richmond focused.
• Valentine
  • Here is the response I got from the archival department via email:
    • Dear Caroline,
      Thank you for contacting the Valentine regarding your Brookfield research.  I'm sorry to report that I could not find much  here on the home in the archives.  I could only locate two local newspaper clippings (dated 1953 and 1974).  One is a short history of the home and the other is about a possible closing of the home.  For lack of more primary information, newspaper archives may end up being your best bet.  We do not have a full newspaper archive here, but the Library of Virginia does have one. A cursory internet search suggests that the home may still be in operation as a foster home.  You may want to contact them directly.  You may also want to try the Henrico County Historical Society.  After moving that that county, Brookfield may have donated information, images, etc.:
      Henrico County Historical Society
      PO Box 27032
      Richmond, VA 23273
      (804) 501-5682
      http://www.henricohistoricalsociety.org/
• Henrico County Historical Society:
  • Here's the very detailed response I got via email:
    • Many newspaper articles mentioning the Spring Street Home for Girls and Brookfield Home for Girls. I noted the names of many people associated with the organization through the years, mostly governing board members (all women) and some of the founders' families.
      
      I was able to track the deed records for the Brookfield property from 1931 (90.75 acres) thru 1968 when 70.591 acres was sold to VA Shopping Center Inc. Then I realized that I have a bunch of research on the property's earlier history when it belonged to the Dickens family. Some of the deeds have plats that could be used as visuals in a film. That is also how I learned that they changed the name and focus of the "home" to Intercept Youth Services and relocated to 10 acres off of Brook Road, near Virginia Center Commons and the Chickahominy River.
      
      As Intercept they may still get referrals from current local Social Services Departments. I can put you in touch with the current Henrico Co. SS director. They may still have a long time employee or be able to connect you with a retiree that worked with girls at Brookfield. Articles mention VCU Social Services professors that may have historical info - see the note #4 below about Ellen Netting.
      
      The old Spring Street Home is now called "the Parsons House" at 601 Spring Street, Richmond
      
      According to:
      1) <hubbiz.com> - BrookfieldGroupHome.org is Brookfield Inc., 10187 Brook Rd. Richmond VA, phone 804-266-7631.
      2) <www.citizenaudit.org> - contact for "Brookfield Inc." is Douglas Nabhan-William Mullen, PO Box 1320 Richmond VA 23218-1320. 
      3) <findthecompany.com> the organization has an endowment of $9.93 million, almost all income from investment and they paid out 3% to charitable grants in 2013 & 26% expenses to administration.
      4) <www.socialwork.vcu.edu> You might contact F. Ellen Netting at VA Commonwealth University <[email protected]> about (a book?) published in 2012 called "Maidens Fair, Matrons Plump..." co-author Mary Katherine O'Connor. It is supposed to include info about Brookfield.
      
      Checking for papers of A. Spiers George, the generous benefactor:
      1) Library of Virginia has a Home For Needy Confederate Women Collection (another of his beneficiaries) that includes estate files for A. Spiers George within the organization's "Administrative Files 1897-1997 Box 9 Folder 19." Probably concerns their part of the bequest but Spring Street might be mentioned.
      2) Lib VA also has a collection for the Society of Friends [Quakers] "papers concerning the establishment of the Magdalene Society of Richmond" Accession # 31964.
      3) According to OGLC World Cat - The Valentine Museum downtown has "Papers - Robert Ould and A. Spiers George - correspondence/documents re: Magdalene Assoc." They would also be your best bet for any other photographs.

Still need time to follow all these leads, but feel hopeful that they will be fruitful.

Attached is a document housed at the Virginia Historical Society, in Richmond.  It is a report made by the Child Welfare League of America, Inc. about life at the Home at that time.  It is one of the very first pieces of research I was able to find on the subject in the spring of 2015.  

In the next couple of months, I will be setting up interviews for the film.  I know some women want to tell their stories but do not want to appear on camera.  In that case, I can do audio interviews only.  More info to come about interview dates and times.  Also looking for photos, pamphlets, documents, the like to scan to use in the film.

Today in the Richmond Times Dispatch, I posted a small article about the project and my family's story.
Here is a link.
As I build this page over the next few months, I will be posting updates.  I would like to hear from you.  Please share your experiences as you see fit.  It is not necessary to use your name if you would like to remain anonymous.  I want folks to feel that this is a safe place.  And I thank you.
Caroline
http://www.richmond.com/from-the-archives/article_160a19dc-aa5d-11e5-b65c-9f5428ae7e01.html

This blog is the very beginnings of research about the Brookfield Home for Girls, a home for unwed mothers, that was located in Richmond, VA from the 1870s to 2011.  My mother was born there in 1942.  The research will eventually be compiled into a documentary film, not only to honor my mother and grandmother, but also for hundreds and thousands of other women who had similar experiences.