The American Lyceum and Public Culture: The Rhetoric of Idealism, Opportunity, and Abolition

FAIN: BI-50114-10

Northeastern University (Boston, MA 02115-5005)
Richard A. Katula (Project Director: March 2010 to June 2012)

Two one-week Landmarks workshops for fifty community college faculty members to examine the American Lyceum movement and the rhetoric of major nineteenth-century orators.

The American Lyceum began in 1826. Organized by Josiah Holbrook, its goal was the spread of practical knowledge to the millions of Americans in the cities and small towns that dotted the landscape. The journey of the Lyceum Movement from a purely informational society to one that became engaged in the political struggles of its day is symbolic of this entire period when Americans began to discover the peculiar character of this new nation, but also to confront its demon: slavery. The workshop proposed here will introduce participants to the Lyceum through a study of its history and key texts (performed by interpreters) that formed its content. The workshops take place in actual Lyceum sites: Millbury, Worcester, Concord, and Salem, Massachusetts. Participants will listen to lectures on the history and oratory of the day, engage in discussions of the texts, and learn how to do research on this important period.