Author : Marylin Irvin Holt
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 9780803235977
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (359 download)
Book Synopsis Orphan Trains by : Marylin Irvin Holt
Download or read book Orphan Trains written by Marylin Irvin Holt and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 1994-02-01 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From 1850 to 1930 America witnessed a unique emigration and resettlement of at least 200,000 children and several thousand adults, primarily from the East Coast to the West. This 'placing out,' an attempt to find homes for the urban poor, was best known by the 'orphan trains' that carried the children. Holt carefully analyzes the system, initially instituted by the New York Children's Aid Society in 1853, tracking its imitators as well as the reasons for its creation and demise. She captures the children's perspective with the judicious use of oral histories, institutional records, and newspaper accounts. This well-written volume sheds new light on the multifaceted experience of children's immigration, changing concepts of welfare, and Western expansion. It is good, scholarly social history."—Library Journal