This paper presents some elements from more detailed research into the origins and development of residential treatment for deprived children, in relation to social, economic and intellectual developments. The central concern is the agrarian cotony of « Nederlandsch Mettray », a remarkable example of a total educational institution in the Netherlands. Two serial sources are used, the annual reports of the colony and dossiers of the boys in residence, to study developments during the period 1851-1914, one of rapid economic and social change in the Netherlands. « Nederlandsch Mettray » was founded in 1851, at the dose of a long period of crisis in Dutch society. Inspired by a religious revival in the Dutch Protestant church, the « Réveil », W. H. Suringar led a group which sought to rescue the mass of so-called « deprived » boys. The French colony Mettray was taken as the model and at first a liberal pédagogie and disciplinary method was adopted. But after 1874 there was a change to a more overtly disciplinary institution (cf. Michel Foucault). At the sa me time, owing to the urban origin of most boys and to the international agrarian crisis, the original agrarian character of the colony was abandoned. Thus Mettray became a purely educational and disciplinary institution, the social aims (directed at maintaining social order) and religious ends becoming and remaining dominant.