By the end of the Civil War, 30,000 orphaned children roamed the streets of New York City. Many survived by joining violent street gangs like the Bowery Boys, the Roach Guards and the Dead Rabbits. In response to this crisis, the age of the Orphan Train Movement began. It culminated with 250,000 children being sent by train to live out west with farming families, often as indentured servants. Michael Keene’s documentary, Abandoned: The Untold Story of the Orphan Trains, explores one of the most audacious and shocking chapters in American history.

Presenter: Michael T. Keene, historian, author and filmmaker, will introduce his documentary on Orphan Trains and lead a discussion via Zoom.

Co-sponsored by the New Buffalo Railroad Museum

In the fall of 1779, George Washington took his 10,000-man army into winter camp in Morristown, N.J. It would be a brutal winter of suffering, depression, starvation, betrayal, mutiny, treason and an attempt to kidnap Washington by the British. When spring finally came, only 8,000 men would be left in Morristown, a third of them unfit for service. And yet, Morristown marked a turning point in the Revolutionary War. In May, Washington was joined by Lafayette, who promised him a second fleet of French support, leading to the final defeat of the British in 1783.

Presenter: William Hazelgrove is a prolific author and speaker whose subjects range from the Wright Brothers to Teddy Roosevelt, Edith Wilson and the Titanic. He has been a frequent and popular presenter at the New Buffalo Library.