Riders on the Orphan Train
Join the Coffeyville Library Tuesday, April 9th @ 6PM for live music and storytelling about the largest migration of children in history.
Music and Presentation by Phil Lancaster
Few people today know much about the largest child migration in history. Between 1854 and 1929 over 250,000 orphans and unwanted children were taken out of New York City and given away at train stations across America. This “placing out” system was originally organized by Methodist minister Charles Loring Brace and the Children’s Aid Society of New York. His mission was to rid the streets and overcrowded orphanages of homeless children and provide them with an opportunity to find new homes. Many of the children were not orphans but “surrendered” by parents too impoverished to keep them. The New York Foundling Hospital, a Catholic organization, also sent out children to be placed in Catholic homes. This seventy-six year experiment in child relocation is filled with the entire spectrum of human emotion and reveals a great deal about the successes and failures of the American Dream.
When:Tuesday, April 9, 2019 6:00 PM thru 07:30 PM
Where:Coffeyville Public Library, 311 West 10th. Coffeyville, KS 67337
