About Our Program

Novelist and Humanities Scholar Alison Moore and singer/songwriter Phil Lancaster have combined audio visual elements, historical fiction and musical ballads into a collaborative performance that brings the Orphan Trains, a largely-unknown chapter in American history, to the public.

The one-hour multi-media presentation, Riders on the Orphan Train, tells the story of the 250,000 orphans and unwanted children who were put on trains in New York between 1854 and 1929 and sent all over the United States to be given away. An estimated 1200 of these children came to Texas. The presentation is comprised of original music, an audio-visual presentation of archival photographs and interviews with surviving orphan train riders (one who came to Greenville, TX) and is followed by a dramatic recitation from a forthcoming historical novel about the Orphan Trains by Alison Moore.

After the presentation, there is an informal discussion led by Alison Moore and Phil Lancaster about the origin and demise of the largest child migration in history and the part it played in the formation of the American Dream. The human struggle to belong, to define one's self in the place we call home is exemplified in the stories of these children that have shaped all of our lives. The library version is 1½ hrs to allow time for questions. (a shorter version is available for schools.)The performance will conclude with dialog between presenters and audience on the historical and social significance of the Orphan Trains as well as the artistic choices made to combine literary and musical elements with historical material.

TRACK RECORD

Since 1998, Riders on the Orphan Train has been presented in over 200 museums, libraries and schools in Arkansas, Texas and Arizona. Currently, we are concentrating on underserved areas in Texas with funding from Humanities Texas. We have also been funded by the Arkansas Humanities Council, The Department of Arkansas Heritage, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. We participated in Arkansas Heritage Month, Homeward Bound: A Migration Story in 2000 and presented In-Service Teacher Training, Kerrville Folk Festival, Kerrville, Texas in 2005 and 2006.

Harvard Extension University, Cambridge, Mass.
Tucson Temple of Music and Art sponsored by the Extended University of Arizona
Kestrel Festival at Fairmont State College, Fairmont, West Virginia
Gemini Ink Literary Center, San Antonio, Texas
Capitol Rotunda, Jefferson City, Missouri
Associated Writing Programs Conference, Albany, New York
Mineral Area Community College, Mineral Area, Missouri
Grayson County Community College, Sherman, Texas
Southwest Humanities Association Conference, Hot Springs, Arkansas
In-Service Teacher Training, Kerrville Folk Festival, Kerrville, Texas

OUR ORGANIZATION

Alison Moore and Phil Lancaster developed an outreach program, Riders on the Orphan Train for The Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, Inc. in Springdale, Arkansas in 1998 and toured the state for four years with an Arkansas Humanities Grant to over 80 libraries, museums and schools. Two programs were also developed for Arkansas Heritage Month with grants from the Arkansas Department of Heritage: Riders on the Orphan Train in 2000 and Gospel, Biscuits & Gravy, a documentary film with live music about the life of Ozark gospel singer Ernestine Gulledge Shepherd. They are touring in Texas with grants from Humanities Texas and in New Mexico.

Phil Lancaster & Alison Moore
351 Cowpoke Canyon, Austin, TX 78619
512-393-9457
ridersontheorphantrain@yahoo.com