In the mid-1800s, 10,000 homeless children prowled the streets of New York City – sleeping in stairwells, in stables, or on the docks. In 1853, a young minister, Charles Loring Brace, organized an ambitious rescue effort to remove them from their surroundings and send them by train to Christian homes in the country. Between 1854 and 1929, his Children’s Aid Society in New York, and other East Coast charities, sent more than 150,000 children to farming communities to begin new livs with foster families. Using poignant interviews with elderlysurvivors, and century-ols letters from children, The Orphan Trains explores the successes and failures of this little known, but highly unfluential resettlement movement. (60mins. Color and B&W)

Author: Janet Graham & Edward Gray
Additional Author: PBS
ISBN: F7103
Count: 1