Punch cards and their tabulating machines are presumed to be the first data processing technologiesin history. Punch card systems were also used for medical records in the second half ofthe 20th century. To date, they have received little attention in medical history. The followingpaper aims to reconstruct the object-based history of an accidental discovery in the context ofout-of-home care child and youth psychiatry. The track leads from the children’s observationward in Innsbruck to the Hans Zulliger ward in Berlin. The specific punch card is presentedas an early data processing instrument facilitating knowledge building in the framework ofthe research of neglect as well as a crucial point for the beginning of the protests against therestrictive out-of-home care policies (Heimkampagne) in Berlin in 1970.