FOUNDING OF THE AEA OF THE USA--1949-1955: CRUCIAL ROLES PLAYED BY HOWARD MCCLUSKY, MALCOLM KNOWLES, AND CYRIL HOULE

 

2003 Hall of Fame Conference

 

Roger Hiemstra, Professor, Adult Education; Elmira College; Elmira, NY

 

Roger Hiemstra; 318 Southfield Dr.; Fayetteville, NY 13066

rogerhiemstra@hotmail.com

 

March 7, 2003

 

            It was with great pleasure that I undertook this project. Like most of you here today, my plate is always overflowing. Finding time for another task is not easy, but this conference was the perfect excuse for taking the time to do what I enjoy, historical research. You probably have to have carried out historical research yourself to understand why a person says he likes digging through dusty and dank old manuscripts, but there is just something about the thrill of finding some new fact, unraveling the unknown, and coming up with those epiphanies that make it all worthwhile (see Hiemstra, 2003, to examine some historical records stored electronically).

            Added to that for me was an opportunity to delve even more deeply into the life of my mentor, Howard McClusky. I have written about his illustrious career several times before (Hiemstra, 1980, 1981, 1993, 1998), but I have never spent so much time looking at a particular period in his life. It truly was a labor of love.

            I actually had the good fortune of spending some quality time with all three of these honored Hall of Famers. I met Cy Houle first. In early 1966 while a County Extension Agent in Iowa, I began exploring graduate programs in adult education. A boyhood friend in Michigan, Ivan Lappin, had also been an Iowa Extension Agent. He was already enrolled in the University of Chicago adult education graduate program by the time I began my exploration and recommended I start there.

            I sent in my applications and then drove to Chicago for interviews with Cy and I think Bill Griffith. My time with Cy was short but memorable. I don’t remember him smiling during my interview and I’m sure I tried to elicit one, but I was impressed with his tough questions and knowledge about adult education. My next “alone” time with him did not come for more than 20 years later. He visited the Syracuse University archives for several days in the late 1980s when he was doing research for The Literature of Adult Education (Houle, 1992). We had lunch one day and talked for awhile about his retirement, the time he was spending in Florida, and the book on which he was working.

            I had also applied to the University of Nebraska and Iowa State University. I did not get into Chicago or Nebraska (I later got to Nebraska by being on their faculty for six years and having the fortunate opportunity of working with Wes Meierhenry, one of yesterday’s posthumous inductees). I did get accepted at Iowa State (having worked in Extension there for a couple of years enabled them to overlook my absolutely atrocious undergraduate grade point average at Michigan State University--I had a good bowling score though) and began a Masters in Adult Extension Education in 1966.

            I did very well on my Masters and was encouraged by my major professor, Roger Lawrence, to apply for a Mott Foundation Fellowship and admission to the University of Michigan’s doctoral program in Community Adult Education, which I did during the spring of 1967. I was still a little uncertain if I really wanted to go to Michigan rather than staying in Iowa and working with Extension--at that time I was dating Janet Wemer, whom I subsequently married. Fortunately, Howard McClusky had been reading my application materials and letters of recommendation and he called me at my apartment one night, at his own expense I later found out, and spent about an hour talking about the virtues of the University of Michigan. That phone call, a subsequent visit to Michigan, my first face-to-face meeting with Howard, and a Mott Fellowship award convinced me and I began there that next September.

            I, of course, heard about Malcolm during my doctoral work and a couple of his books were required reading (Knowles, 1950, 1962). I also saw him at the first AEA conference I attended in Des Moines in 1968 [I attended that first conference to co-deliver a paper with Howard (Hiemstra & McClusky, 1968)]. However, I never actually met Malcolm until 1972 when Wes Meierhenry brought him to the University of Nebraska campus for a couple of days to talk about andragogy and his recent book on the topic (Knowles, 1970). Wes had asked me to coordinate the development of a videotape on the topic of andragogy. So I worked with the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications network and we produced a half hour video where I interviewed Malcolm on the topic of andragogy (Knowles & Hiemstra, 1972). It was a thrilling experience and that tape ran periodically over the network for a few years. It is still advertised as available through the NETCHE catalog. I subsequently had a chance to interact with Malcolm several times over the years.

You can tell by the title of this paper that by focusing on the people involved with the founding of AEA of the USA, I actually could have centered my research on any number of distinguished people. Let me roll by you some of the names of many other people who in some way had a hand in that founding: Kenneth Benne, Paul Bergevin, Leland Bradford, Lyman Bryson, Glen Burch, Ambrose Caliver, Morse Cartright, Eleanor Coit, Watson Dickerman, Wilma Donahue, Paul Essert, Phil Frandson, Gladys Gallop, Wilbur Hallenbeck, Andy Hendrickson, Otto Hoiberg, John Holden, Herb Hunsaker, Abbot Kaplan, Eduard Lindeman, Ron Lippitt, Fern Long, Bob Luke, Homer Kempfer, Alexander Meiklejohn, Harry Miller, Jean Ogden, Jess Ogden, Paul Sheats, Robertson Sillars, Hilda W. Smith, Ralph Spence, Grace Stevenson, Clark Tibbits, and Thurman White. I had no idea I would find such a treasure trove of human talent during my research. If you are familiar with past Hall of Fame inductees, you know that many of those names I read are of people already in the Hall. I am convinced that most who are not already in the Hall, should be. Apropos to the dinner tonight, I was pleased to be reminded during my research about the vital role Thurman White played. For example, among other responsibilities, Thurman was Editor of Adult Education for 11 years, from 1957-1967.

Another fascinating thing was to discover how some unexpected people popped up as somehow involved in the early years of AEA. For example, Milton Eisenhower (Ike’s brother) was President of Pennsylvania State College. He had agreed to participate in a workshop to be sponsored in 1954 by AEA on the topic of adult education and older adults. I don’t know if that workshop actually took place. Dr. S. I. Hayakawa, later to become Senator Hayakawa, was a specialist in general semantics. He served as chairman of a session on the importance of semantics to adult educators at the 1954 AEA conference in Chicago. One fun surprise was the fact that an advertised extra event during the 1952 Conference in E. Lansing was a football game between MSU and Syracuse University. Syracuse got trounced 48 to 7.

I should let you know about the resources I used for this research. They are few in number just because I had limited time in which to complete my effort. Subsequently, my research findings are also limited because of the lack of additional historical documents, no interviews with people who may have participated in these events, and my own lack of understanding of the times. Regarding the resources I did have access to, my relationship with Howard and Helen McClusky was instrumental. The time I spent in their home both during and after I graduated was always a treat. Howard willing and graciously allowed me to interview him a few times and he shared many of his papers and materials with me. After his death, Helen continued this kindness and gave me many boxes of his papers, books, journals, and speeches. One treasure was Howard’s copies of the four primary documents about the founding of AEA that served as the main sources of data for this research:

Annual Reports (AEA, 1957a)

Delegate Assembly Documents (AEA, 1957b)

Executive Committee Minutes (AEA, 1957c)

Founding Documents (AEA, 1957d)

They contained original documents, minutes, reports, and conference programs pertaining to the development and founding of the AEA. They reflected primarily the period of 1949 through 1955, so that is why I limited my research to that time period. I don’t know who assembled these invaluable resources, but suspect it may have been under the direction of Bob Luke or Malcolm Knowles, given some of the occasional notes in the margins. If anyone here knows the answer to that puzzle, I would love to hear from you.

I also looked at a few of the related journals around the same time period seeking clarification, verification, or expansion of what I was finding. In addition, I examined a few of the publications by Howard, Malcolm, and Cy to obtain a bit more insight into the context of the times and their own thinking processes. Many of these publications are referenced throughout the remainder of this paper.

 

Contextual Information

 

            The purpose of this section is to provide some background or context to help us understand some aspects of Howard, Malcolm, and Cy’s lives during this 1949-1955 time period. As is demonstrated in the next section, Howard’s heaviest involvement in the founding process was from 1949 through 1953, although he continued to be involved for the next two years. Malcolm’s heaviest involvement was from 1951-1955 and Cy’s heaviest involvement was from 1953-1955.

In 1949, Howard was 49 and Malcolm and Cy were both 36. All three were married and had children. Howard was living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Malcolm and Cy were both living in Chicago. Where they lived is important both in understanding why some of the relevant meetings during the time period were held where they were, but also to provide a geographic context in terms of how many travel miles and hours each had to have logged probably via primarily auto or train (although commercial air travel in the United States was certainly underway in the late 40s and early 50s) participating in related meetings. The amount of travel really is staggering to think about, especially in light of the fact that Howard and Cy held full-time jobs in their respective institutions during 1949-1955 and Malcolm had a full-time job with the YMCA until his full-time involvement with AEA began in 1951.

            All three were already active adult education professionals who had contributed to the field in many ways by 1949. Howard was Assistant to the Vice President for University Relations at the University of Michigan from 1934-1939 where he focused on adult education activities. After a stint in Washington, DC, during WWII working for a couple of government agencies, he was Director, Bureau of Studies and Training in Community Adult Education back at Michigan from 1945-1948. He established and was Chair of the Department of Adult and Continuing Education (later called Community Adult Education) for several years beginning in 1948. He also was Director, Extra-Mural Services, during part of this period. He was writing about adult education topics as early as 1939 (1939a, 1939b). He had 15 publications during 1949-1952, the time of his heaviest involvement with the founding process, and another 7 publications during 1953-55, so he certainly remained involved as a scholar.

            Malcolm states in his autobiographical journey that he realized he was an adult educator in 1937 at age 24 (Knowles, 1989). He was Director of Adult Education for YMCAs in Boston from 1940 to 1943 and then had the same position at the Chicago YMCA from 1946 until he took the AEA Administrative Coordinator job in 1951 (in 1950 he was promoted to Executive Secretary of the YMCA). He began his graduate program in adult education at the University of Chicago in 1946 with Cy serving as his major advisor. Malcolm obtained his masters in 1949 and his thesis became the 1950 publication, Informal Adult Education. Malcolm also had 22 publications between 1949 and 1955.

            I don’t know when Cy began to think of himself as an adult educator, but he was an Assistant Professor working with adult education at the University of Chicago beginning in 1938. He became Dean of University College there in 1944, a position he held through 1952. Malcolm said that in 1947 Cy Houle was “the leading adult educator in this country at that time” (Knowles, 1989, p. 13). After 1952 he continued with the University as a Professor of Adult Education until his retirement in 1978. I don’t have the same background information on Cy as I do on Howard and Malcolm, but I know he was publishing material related to the armed forces, citizenship, general adult education, libraries, and even the use of print in adult education during the 1949-1955 time period. Andy and Harold’s papers explore his many contributions in more detail. Beginning in 1941 Cy was involved in compiling and reporting annually professional adult education study opportunities (Houle, 1941), something he continued to be engaged in for many years after that.

Each also was involved with the parent organizations of AEA. For example, Cy was Regional Vice President for the Department of Adult Education, NEA, for a two-year term beginning in 1946 (Department of Adult Education Officers, 1946). Howard and Cy were Associate Editors of the Department’s Adult Education Bulletin from 1942 until at least into 1947 (Associate Editors, 1942, 1947). Both were writing articles in the Bulletin during this time period. Howard was on the AAAE Executive Council with a three year term ending in 1946 and on the Executive Board (A.A.A.E. News, 1945). Howard was elected a Vice President of AAAE in 1946 and Cy was elected to the association’s Executive Council for the 1946-1949 period (A.A.A.E. News, 1946). All three were on the Executive Council of AAAE at the same time with three year terms slated to expire in 1952 (AAAE Officers, 1950).

So you can see that all three were well established as adult educators and probably fairly well known as professionals in the field. They also spent considerable time together, especially Howard and Malcolm, participating in and often leading the founding process. I don’t know how valuable such interactions were, now whether there was any perceived or overt competition among them. However, knowing a little about their personalities I can speculate that each probably respected the contributions of the other two while at the same time exerting their opinions and ideas in a respectful but persuasive manner. I believe such leadership qualities were vital to the founding process that is described in the next section.

 

Founding a New Adult Education Association

 

            The purpose of my research effort was three fold: (a) To better understand the actual roles played by Howard, Malcolm, and Cy during the 1949-1955 AEA founding period; (b) to determine the impact each had on the formation and establishment of AEA; and (c) to suggest several implications for better understanding the field of adult education. The next two sections speak to these purposes and the final section includes my recommendations for some future research.

            The theoretical perspective informing this research is that a certain individual can play a pivotal role in the long-term success of an organization or even a professional movement. In some respects, Howard, Malcolm, and Cy were the right people in the right place at the right time. However, as is evident in the distinguished careers each had during their professional lives, their talent, knowledge, and leadership abilities added much to the AEA, and, ultimately to the adult education field. Certainly, the roles they played during the time period of this research impacted greatly on what AEA was to become.

Figure 1 shows a chronology of events leading up to the establishment of the AEA and its first national conference. Howard and Malcolm were both involved with some of the actions or meetings shown in that chronology. For instance, Howard was one of the initial appointees to the JC “to study and make recommendations regarding the establishment of a single national organization to represent and serve the adult education field” (Toward a New Association, 1950, p. 5). This appointment took place in late 1949. Howard and Malcolm were appointed to the National Organizing Committee about a year later. I speculate that Cy might also have been appointed to this committee had he not been in the British Isles under a Fulbright grant studying British adult education during parts of 1950 and 1951 (Over the Editor’s Desk, 1950).

Obviously there were many important events leading up to actual work on the AEA’s founding process as shown in Figure 1. Oh, to be able to twist the fabric of time and insert a modern video camera or sound recorder into the rooms of those early meetings when members representing AAAE and the DEA and others talked about the pros and cons of establishing a new, over arching organization. I anticipate that it took much discussion, persuasion, and give and take just to create the JCSAE.

This section actually begins, though, December 20-21, 1949, when the JC held its first meeting in New York City. Howard was not there that first morning, but he was elected chair of the JC. One can imagine the old strategy of looking around to see who wasn’t there to make the selection, but I suspect the real reason for Howard’s election was the high esteem in which he was held by other committee members. I’ll primarily refer to the leadership exerted by Howard, Malcolm, and Cy throughout this section to show their active involvement during most of the founding process. However, I will provide additional clarifying and interpretative statements and points that interested me when it makes sense to do so.

Figure 2 shows the membership of the JC at the time of that first meeting and portrays a wide variety of skills, experiences, and geographic representation. The intent of selecting those members was to provide a group of individuals that would broadly represent the field, but with a single voice. Although there did turn out to be fairly broad representation as is shown in Figure 2, one of their first discussion points was that they were not broad or representative enough. I don’t have direct evidence, but can almost “hear” Howard’s voice in much of this type of discussion because of his past experiences in community development and his skills as a consensus builder.

 

1921                        Department of Immigrant Education, NEA, established

1924                        Name changed to Department of Adult Education (DAE), NEA

1926                        American Association for Adult Education (AAAE) established

1943-1944               AAAE and DAE unsuccessfully attempt to enter into a closer cooperative relationship

1946                        AAAE, DAE, National University Extension Association, Adult Education Board of the American

Library Association, and the Educational Film Library Association jointly sponsor a national adult

education conference in Detroit. An outcome of the conference is the formation of a Joint

Commission for the Study of Adult Education (JCSAE) composed of representatives from each of

the conference sponsors

1949, May              The JCSAE recommends that the AAAE and the DAE  set up a joint committee to explore the

possibility of greater collaboration with one another

1949, October        The AAAE and the DAE establish a Joint Committee (JC) to study the possibility of a new adult

education organization

1949, December    The JC holds its first meeting and begins discussion of the needs for adult education in the

American culture, the major functions of adult education workers, the professional services they

require to carry out their tasks, and the functions and structure of a national organization that

would provide needed services and representation for workers and organizations in the field

1950, March          Second meeting of the JC

1950, April             Third meeting of the JC

1950, May              Participants at the annual meeting of AAAE receive a progress report from the JC and they urge

the development of a national meeting to establish the new organization

 1950, May             Fourth meeting of the JC involves planning a summer workshop to think through in greater detail

the functions and structure of a new organization and to plan ways of enabling the field to

participate in this exploratory process

1950, August        The JC and invited consultants from many areas of adult education hold a week-long workshop at

Sarah Lawrence College. Reports and recommendations of this workshop form the basis of

subsequent planning for the new association

1950, September The JC makes a progress report to the JCSAE and receives its counsel and approval

1950, October        The annual conference of the DAE receives and approves a report from the JC. The governing

bodies of the DAE and the AAAE authorize the formation of an autonomous National Organizing

Committee (NOC) empowered to complete plans for a new association and to arrange for its establishment

1950, October        The NOC holds its first meeting and begins setting up a number of committees to plan for the

formation of the new association in May, 1951

1950, October        The Adult Education Journal and the Adult Education Bulletin are replaced by a single

publication, Adult Education

1950, December    Second meeting of the NOC

1951, February      Third meeting of the NOC

1951, April             Nationwide election of Executive Committee and Delegates-at-Large. Submission of draft

constitution to the field for criticism. Memberships of AAAE and DAE vote for dissolution of

their respective organizations in favor of the new national association

1951, May              Founding Assembly of the new association meets. The name of the AEA of the USA chosen.

Howard elected as the first president. Malcolm appointed as Administrative Coordinator

1951, October        First national conference of AEA held

 

Figure 1. Chronology of the Development of the Adult Education Association

(Adapted from First Annual Report, 1952)

 

 

Joint Committee Membership

(Toward a New Association, 1950)

For the AAAE

Glen Burch, Executive Director, Film Council of America, Chicago, IL

Eleanor G. Coit (alternative), American Labor Education Association, New York, NY

William M. Cooper (alternative), Hampton Institute, Hampton, VA

Gladys Gallup, Assistant Chief, Field Studies and Training, USDA, Washington, DC

Russell M. Grumman, Director of Extension, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

Herbert C. Hunsaker (ex officio), Director, AAAE, Cleveland, OH

Ralph McCallister (ex officio), Syracuse, NY

Howard Y. McClusky (chair), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Herschel W. Nisonger, Director of Adult Education, Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH

 

For the DEA

Kenneth Benne (vice-chair), College of Education, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL

Leland P. Bradford (ex officio), Director, DAE, Washington, DC

John Carr Duff (alternative), Director of Adult Education., New York Univ., New York, NY

Herbert Hamlin, Professor of Agricultural Education, Univ. of Illinois, Urban, IL

Robert A. Luke (alternative), Assistant Director, DEA, Washington, DC

George Mann, Chief, Bureau of Adult Education, Dept. of Education, Los Angeles, CA

Albert Owens, Director of School Extension, Board of Education, Philadelphia, PA

Everett C. Preston (ex officio), Director, Div. of Adult Education, State Dept. of Education, Trenton, NJ

Robert Sharer, Chief, Div. of Adult Education, State Dept. of Public Instruction, E. Lansing, MI

Thomas A. Van Sant (ex officio), Director of Adult Education, Board of Education, Baltimore, MD

 

Consultants and Staff

Homer Kempfer (consultant), Specialist, General Adult Education, Office of Education, Washington, DC

Robertson Sillars (recorder), Assistant Director, AAAE, Cleveland, OH

Ralph B. Spence (consultant), Prof. of Education, Teachers College, Columbia Univ, New York, NY

 

Sarah Lawrence College Working Conference

(August 4-9, 1950)

(Toward a New Association, 1950)

 

L. H. Adolfson, Director, Univ. Extension Division, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

Leland P. Bradford

Edward Brice, Pres., National Conference on Adult Education, & the Negro, S. C. State Col., Orangeburg, SC

Glen Burch

Eleanor G. Coit

John M. Cory, Exec. Secretary, American Library Assoc., Chicago, IL

Wayne Dick, Seattle Public Schools, Seattle, WA

Paul L. Essert, Exec. Officer, Institute of Adult Education, Teachers Col., Columbia Univ, NY, NY

Wilbur C. Hallenbeck, Prof. of Education, Teachers College, Columbia Univ, New York, NY

Andrew Hendrickson, Prof. of Education, Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH;          

Herbert C. Hunsaker

Homer Kempfer

Eduard C. Lindeman, Prof. of Social Philosophy, New York School of Social Work, NY, NY

Robert A. Luke

Howard Y. McClusky (chair);

Herschel W. Nisonger

R. A. Polson, Dept. of Rural Sociology, Cornell, Univ., Ithaca, NY

Everett C. Preston

Hugh C. Pyle, Supervisor of Informal Instruction, Extension Div., Penn. State College, State College, PA

Robertson Sillars

Hilda W. Smith, Chair, Committee for the Labor Extension Act, Washington, DC

Ralph B. Spence

Henry B. Stevens, Ext. Div., Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH

Ona R. Wagner, Director, General Adult Education, Lincoln Public Schools, Lincoln, NE

Parker Wheatley, Cooperative Broadcasting Council, Boston, MA

Edith Whitfield, Advanced School of Education, Teachers College, Columbia Univ., New York, NY

Gladys Wiggin, College of Education, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD

 

Individuals Initially Serving on the National Organizing Committee

(AEA, 1957d, approximate pp. 206-207)

 

L. H. Adolfson

Leland P. Bradford

Edward Brice

Glen Burch

Sopie V. Cheskie, Director of Adult Education, Board of Education, Highland Park, MI

Eleanor G. Coit

John M. Cory

Thelma Dreis, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC

Paul H. Durrie, Des Moines Pub. Schools, Des Moines, IA

Fred K. Eshleman, Dean, Dearborn Jr. College, Dearborn, MI

E. Manfred Evans, Los Angeles City Schools, Los Angeles, CA

Herbert M. Hamlin, Agricultural Education, Dept., Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL

Andrew Hendrickson

Herbert C. Hunsaker

Homer Kempfer

Malcolm Knowles, Executive Secretary, Central YMCA, Chicago, IL

Robert A. Luke

Ralph McCallister

Howard Y. McClusky

Jean Carter Ogden, Ext. Div., Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Everett C. Preston

Robert B. Sharer

Paul H. Sheats, Assoc. Director, Univ. Ext., Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA

Robertson Sillars

Ralph B. Spence

Herbert Thelen, Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Thomas A. Van Sant

M. L. Wilson, Director, Ext. Work, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC

Shepherd L. Witman, Council of World Affairs, Cleveland, OH

Arnold Zopf, Director, Adult Education, St. Louis, MO

 

First AEA Elected Executive Body

Nation-wide Ballot Prior to the Founding Assembly

(News from the AEA, 1951)

 

Leland P. Bradford

Glen Burch

Eleanor G. Coit

John M. Cory

Paul H. Durrie

Paul L. Essert

Gladys Gallup

Herbert M. Hamlin

Margaret E. Hoke, Adult Education Council of Denver, Denver, CO

Herbert C. Hunsaker

Homer Kempfer

Malcolm S. Knowles

Fern Long, Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, OH

Howard Y. McClusky

Everett C. Preston

Ernest H. Reed, International Harvester Co., Chicago, IL

Paul H. Sheats

Alice Sowers, Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

Thomas A. Van Sant

 

Officers Elected at the Founding Assembly

(News from the AEA, 1951)

 

Leland Bradford, Exec. Committee Member

Edward Brice, Vice President

Glen Burch, Exec. Committee Member

Eleanor G. Coit, Exec. Committee Member

John M. Cory, Exec. Committee Member

Paul H. Durrie, Exec. Committee Member

Paul L. Essert, Exec. Committee Member

E. Manfred Evans, Vice President

Gladys Gallup, Exec. Committee Member

Herbert M. Hamlin, Exec. Committee Member

Margaret E. Hoke, Vice President

Herbert C. Hunsaker, Exec. Committee Member

Homer Kempfer, Exec. Committee Member

Malcolm S. Knowles, Exec. Committee Member

Fern Long, Secretary-Treasurer, Director of Adult Education, Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, OH

Howard Y. McClusky, President

Everett C. Preston, Exec. Committee Member

Ernest H. Reed, Exec. Committee Member

Lawrence Rogin, Vice President, Director of Education, Textile Workers Union of America (CIO)

Paul H. Sheats, Exec. Committee Member

Alice Sowers, Exec. Committee Member

Thomas A. Van Sant, Exec. Committee Member

[Note: This became known as the Executive Committee]

 

Delegates-at-Large Elected the Delegate Assembly

At the Founding Assembly

(News from the AEA, 1951)

 

L. H. Adolfson, University of Wisconsin

William M. Cooper, Hampton Institute

Watson Dickerman, University of California

Thelma Drieis, U. S. Department of Agriculture

John Carr Duff, New York University

Andrew Hendrickson, Ohio State University

Cyril O. Houle, University of Chicago

Abbott Kaplan, University of California

Robert A. Luke, National Education Association

George C. Mann, California Department of Education

H. Curtis Mial, New York State Citizens Council

Jean Carter Ogden, University of Virginia

Robert E. Sharer, Michigan Dept. of Public Instruction

Robertson Sillars, Western Reserve University

Ralph B. Spence, Teachers College, Columbia Univ.

Mark Starr, Interntl. Ladies’ Garment Workers Union

Helen T. Steinbarer, Washington, DC, Public Library

Per G. Stensland, Kansas State College

M. L. Wilson, U. S. Department of Agriculture

Shepherd L. Witman, Cleveland Council on World Affairs

 

Staff Appointments

At the Founding Assembly

(News from the AEA, 1951)

 

Leland P. Bradford, Coordinator of Service Committees

Herbert C. Hunsaker, Coordination of Organizational Committees

Malcolm S. Knowles, Administrative Coordinator

Robert A. Luke, Coordinator of Field Services

Thomas A. Van Sant, Coordinator of Communities of Special Interest (he resigned from that task in July, 1951)

Robertson Sillars, Ed. of Adult Education & Administrative Secretary

 

 

 

            One of the important outcomes of that first meeting was that the new organization should be able to help adult education at the community level with such tasks as needs assessment, program planning, program coordination, evaluation, better utilization of community resources, training professional and non-professional adult educators, and simulating clientele involvement. Interestingly, even though there were only a few higher educators at that meeting, they also talked about developing programs of research, developing a functional philosophy of adult education, developing a professional status for the field, ensuring academic freedom, and interpreting adult education to the public, topics that might have been initiated by college and university personnel. My hidden video or sound recorder probably would have shown a high level of excitement and anticipation among JC members at the conclusion of this stimulating meeting.

            The second meeting of the JC was held March 1, 1950, in Atlantic City. In addition to being continued as Chair (at the first few JC meetings it was noted that Howard “was continued as Chair of the committee,” so they must have considered the leadership each time), Howard also agreed to serve on a sub-committee to study the needs of adult education workers and to study the functions of a national organization.

            The third JC meeting was April 14-15, 1950, in Washington, DC. A sub-committee was formed that included Howard to consider how the JC would participate in the AAAE’s 25^th annual meeting scheduled for Cleveland, May 4-7. It was no doubt beneficial that Howard was on the program committee for that meeting. Howard agrees to present at the beginning of the first general assembly on the nature and work of the JC and to describe why a new organization was needed. This presentation became fodder for a two hour discussion that Howard conducted the afternoon of May 5.

            The next JC meeting was just after the conference on May 7. The initial discussions, facilitated by Howard, started with a general consideration of the positive reaction of the AAAE meeting attendees to the idea of a new association. However, there was recognition of the complexity of the task and during the AAAE meeting a resolution was approved calling for the JC to be reconstructed, to have new powers, to expand its membership, and to involve the adult education field more broadly (AAAE News, 1950). Howard agreed to provide leadership in forming a committee to work on methods, materials, development, and production related to a new organization. Obviously, I am concentrating only on three individuals in this paper, but identifying Howard’s very active involvement (as was true for Malcolm and Cy) in these paragraphs is very symbolic of the very active role he actually played. He seemed to volunteer (or be drafted) for many roles throughout the founding process.

            A very important meeting took place August 4-9, 1950, at the Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY (Westchester County), about 20 miles north of Manhattan. This was a workshop, referred to as a working conference, devoted to the formation of the new association. As Figure 2 also shows, in addition to many of the JC members, executive body members from AAAE and DAE and other very knowledgeable people participated. Incidentally, papers related to this meeting suggest that this may have been the first time the notion of a “Delegate Assembly” (an important feature of subsequent AEA conferences) was discussed (AEA, 1957d, approximate pp. 62-70).

During this meeting Howard, Leland Bradford, and Herb Hunsaker accepted responsibility for preparing an approach to a foundation to secure funds to help support the founding process. Howard agreed to participate in two smaller working groups in September. One of these was a committee on the organizing assembly planned for May, 1951 (AEA, 1957d, approximate p. 130). He also was suggested as the person to carry out primary responsibility for in-service training through what they envisioned as a College of Education (AEA, 1957d, approximate pp. 106, 108). Later this concept was referred to as the National Institute of Adult Education (AEA, 1957d, approximate p. 128). During a sub-group meeting at this working conference on the need for a council or some type of organization that would serve to bring together leaders from a variety of associations or groups periodically for discussions and coordination efforts, Howard suggested the first name for such a group: National Association for Adult Education and Federated Organizations (AEA, 1957d, approximate p. 94).

            Howard also agreed to seek the assistance of a university audio-visual department in preparing a filmstrip to entice other organizations to join in the formation process. I don’t know if such a film strip was actually developed, but something helped bring a large number of groups into the founding process for at least a part of the time. Figure 3 portrays as many of those groups as I could find mention of in some way.

A small working group from the JC referring to themselves as a steering committee met in New York City on September 1-2, 1950. Howard was not at that meeting, but once again was called upon for leadership as he was suggested as the person to serve as chair of an upcoming luncheon meeting (October 19) before the annual DAE conference. Out of that meeting came a couple of planning documents and a report to the JCSAE. By October appointments were made to what was initially referred to as the “Planning Committee for the Organizing Committee for a National Association of Adult Education.” I think wisdom prevailed regarding that very long name and it was thereafter known as the National Organizing Committee, or NOC (AEA, 1957d, approximate pp. 116-117).

            As shown in the earlier Figure 2, those appointed to the NOC were many people who had previously been involved, but there also were several new ones (including some future AEA presidents and Malcolm Knowles). Several members of the NOC (including Malcolm) met October 21-22, 1950, in Chicago. Officials designated to represent the AAAE and DAE received and approved a JC report and then authorized the NOC to complete plans for a new association and to arrange for its establishment. Malcolm agreed to be part of the committee designated to plan for the founding assembly in May of 1951 slated for Cleveland, Ohio. Howard was also placed on this committee. Malcolm proposed a number of areas that needed to be studied prior to the new association’s first conference scheduled for October of 1951 (AEA, 1957d, approximate pp. 134-142). The first name was proposed for the new organization: “National Association of Adult Education” (Toward a New Association, 1950, p. 12)

            A large group of NOC members, referred to as the group’s National Planning Committee, met in Ann Arbor, MI, December 15-17, 1950. Howard and Malcolm were involved in this meeting. They discussed the planning process and progress (AEA, 1957d, approximate pp. 155-159). They met again February 22-24, 1951, in Princeton, NJ, for more planning activities pertaining to the upcoming Founding Assembly. Howard also talked about the National Institute of Adult Education idea and wanted it to focus on continuous training in many organizations and institutions. He hoped to have several institutes underway by the next summer (AEA, 1957d, approximate pp. 180-183). A sub-group met in Ann Arbor, March 22-23, 1951, to talk more about the National Institute idea with Howard chairing this meeting. Group members saw the Institute as a program of professional training opportunities sponsored by the national association of cooperating universities. It was defined not as an actual institution, but rather a series of different training ventures and occasional “conceptualizing conferences” on the methods, scope, and problems of adult education (AEA, 1957d, approximate pp. 201-202). Howard agreed to be part of a sub-committee to plan this further. I actually could not find later evidence that this notion of institutes really involved actual or deliberate efforts to establish such training initiatives, so further study is needed to follow this exciting idea.

American Association for Adult Education (AAAE)

American Association of Group Workers (AAGW)

American Council on Education (ACE)

American Jewish Committee (AJC)

American Labor Education Service (ALES)

American Library Association (ALA)

American Medical Association (AMA)

Association of University Evening Colleges (AUEC)

American Vocational Association (AVA)

Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A.

Committee of Industrial Organization’s (CIO) Department of Education

Council on World Affairs

Department of Adult Education, NEA