UNIVERSITY EXTENSION. g 



growth of tlie local society at Philadelphia. The history of this 

 organization is sufficiently typical to warrant its statement in 

 some detail, the more so as its aims are now national. The idea 

 of university extension was not known to the city at large until 

 the winter and spring of 1890. It aroused so much interest, how- 

 ever, that the public discussion of the question led to the forma- 

 tion of a society on the 1st of June. Dr. Pepper, the Provost of 

 the University of Pennsylvania, became its first president, and 

 Mr. George Henderson was chosen secretary. The society at once 

 went to work in a most practical and business-like way. It was 

 recognized that two things were wanted — more definite informa- 

 tion in regard to what was being done in England, and also the 

 interest and co-operation of educators connected with neighbor- 

 ing teaching bodies. Accordingly, the secretary was sent to 

 Europe, and in the fall presented a report of what had been accom- 

 plished there. Further, a circular letter addressed to the availa- 

 ble teachers of the locality assured the society of a sufficient staff 

 of lecturers. These ends gained, the work of the society began 

 last fall in earnest. The first local center was at Roxboroiigh 

 and was organized in connection with St. Timothy's Working- 

 men's Club and Institute, which was already provided with an 

 excellent hall and well-selected library. The subject chosen was 

 chemistry, the first lecture being given on November 3d. The 

 formation of centers and the announcement of courses soon 

 became epidemic. By spring it was a rare thing to find any one 

 among the more thoughtful classes who had not attended at least 

 one extension lecture. 



In the one season forty-two courses were given, numbering 

 about two hundred and fifty lectures. The total attendance was 

 about 55,500, a result unparalleled even in England. 



Numbers alone are a very bad standard for an educational 

 movement, but figures such as these indicate at least a wealth of 

 teachable material. The success has indeed been beyond the 

 most sanguine expectation. The idea is, I believe, due to Dr. 

 Pepper that so vast a movement as this should properly be a 

 national interest, and without local bounds. In December, there- 

 fore, the society changed both its name and its purpose, and 

 became the American Society for the Extension of University 

 Teaching. 



The work in England, it will be remembered, is divided among 

 four organizations, and there are advocates of this separation as 

 well as of unification. Here in America the movement is just 

 beginning, and we are called upon to choose. It must not be un- 

 derstood that the three plans mentioned are in any way antago- 

 nistic or are meant to compete with one another. They are the 

 natural products of the different conditions under which they 



