Babies Hospital was founded in 1887 by five women “to provide medical and surgical aid and nursing for sick babies,” and within twenty years it had established an outpatient department, a training school for nurses, and a summer hospital on the New Jersey shore. In 1900, it became a teaching affiliate of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and in 1929 it affiliated with the  Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and moved to W. 168th Street in Manhattan. L. Emmett Holt, Herbert Wilcox, Sr. and Rustin McIntosh were among the medical directors of the hospital in the 20th century. In 2003 it became the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.

The Board of Women Managers, originally known as the Board of Lady Managers, was founded along with the hospital in 1887, and supported the hospital through a variety of endeavors. Activities during the period documented by these records include monthly personal inspections and cash contributions towards the costs of repairs and refurbishment of the physical plant; financial support for the Social Service and Recreational Therapy (later Child Life) programs, including the provision of dolls for annual Christmas parties; sponsorship of lecture series, annual benefits and fund drives; and participation in United Hospital Fund (UHF) activities. Members also supported the hospital through physical labor, such as sorting and tagging items to be sold at the Auxiliary thrift store and serving as volunteers during nursing strikes and other events that reduced hospital staffing levels.

Unlike the auxiliaries of the Neurological Institute or the New York Orthopedic Hospital, the Babies Hospital Board of Women Managers did not merge with the Presbyterian Auxiliary after the Babies Hospital merged with Presbyterian Hospital in 1943. It is still independent today.