Josiah Holbrook: Feeding the passion for self‐help

Abstract

Uniquely American in its breadth of appeal and in its focus on broad, practical, adult self‐education, the lyceum movement was one of the most comprehensive and far‐reaching movements in America from 1830 to 1850, and a significant institution in the American tradition of adult education. Josiah Holbrook, father of the American Jyceum, played an important role in the success of the movement. Not only did he conceive and promote the idea, but he also perceived the readiness of Americans for self‐improvement and adapted to this readiness.