The Orphan Trains: Placing Out in America

Setting aside our present-day romantic notions about orphan trains, Holt’s book sheds valuable new light on the phenomenon by putting it in the context of nineteenth-century ideals about childhood, the roles of social reformers, the changing theories of relief and welfare for the poor, western development, and rail expansion.

Marilyn Irvin Holt, former director of publications at the Kansas State Historical Society; is a freelance editor, writer, and researcher and teaches historical editing at the University of Kansas.