Background: Correspondence schools abounded in early 20th-century America. Several hundred for-profit vendors drew the vast majority of the annual enrollments, which peaked at one half million in the mid-1920s. Dozens of well-known universities created home study departments to expand their "extension" work. The handful of good studies…

The first round of attempts to extend the access of working people to higher education began in 1873 with an imitation of the University of London on the prairies of Illinois. For all practical purposes, it ended in the legislature of the State of New York in 1892, although it took more than a decade to formally close all of the external degree…

Chautauqua (1874-present) was founded in western New York state, USA. It developed into a centre for education, religion, arts and recreation. Examined here is the philosophy of its programmes: liberal education for adults, regardless of background. The backdrop for Chautauqua was the US tradition of popular self-improvement; local clienteles were…