THE GREAT IDEAS:
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO AND THE
IDEAL OF LIBERAL EDUCATION
7. Spreading the Word
Great Books seminars proved to be a very popular form of adult education in the United States. As early as 1927, the American Library Association worked with John Erskine to print reading guides for library groups that wanted to discuss the Great Books. But it took the business acumen of William Benton and Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke to launch a fully developed program. In early 1947, Walter Paepcke wrote a letter to Elizabeth in Aspen recounting a luncheon with Robert Hutchins where they discussed setting up the Goethe Festival and organizing a "foundation which will handle Great Books courses throughout the country." The Great Books Foundation, as it was incorporated later that year, produced circulars for local libraries to distribute to those interested in establishing Great Books programs, as well as publishing inexpensive reprints of the Great Books for the classes. In 1949, the Great Books Foundation even sponsored a weekly television program, "It's a Great Idea," with Elizabeth Paepcke as a regular panel guest.
The television program was short lived, but by the mid 1950s the Great Books Foundation had established over 7,000 courses across the country. There was much to celebrate at the fifteenth anniversary dinner for the "Fat Man's Great Books Course": Aspen was a thriving success, the Great Books Foundation was sponsoring adult education classes across the country, and the Great Books of the Western World was selling briskly.
THE GREAT IDEAS: THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO AND THE
IDEAL OF LIBERAL EDUCATION