A Historical Analysis of an Adult Education Institution

Abstract

This study is a historical analysis of an adult education institu tion, the American Institute of Sacred Literature. An attempt is made to determine those factors which led to the establishment, growth, development, decline and death of the Institute. The writer also examines the nature and extent of the Institute's at tachment to other agencies (i.e., through finances, personnel, clien tele, programs, and facilities) and traces changes within the Institute's administration which may have stifled or encouraged growth. A series of questions provide a guiding framework for data collection using much primary source material along with interviews. Examination of the data revealed that the Institute evolved in five phases: Establishment and Innovation, Reorganiza tion and Adaptation, University Inclusion and Stability, Inflexi bility and Decline, and Retrenchment and Dissolution. Information is provided on one of the earliest correspondence schools in the United States, the career of William Rainey Harper, and the early history of The University of Chicago.