Alexander A. Liveright Papers, 1934-1969, 1956-1969

Summary

Creator:
Liveright, A. A. (Alexander Albert), 1907-1969
Abstract:
Alexander A. Liveright was a professor of adult education and director of the Center for the Study of Liberal Education for Adults (CSLEA) for more than ten years. Correspondence, minutes and reports which highlight Liveright’s professional interests and affiliations. Included are papers generated while professor in the schools of education at Boston University and Syracuse University, as director of The Center for the Study of Liberal Education for Adults, and as founding member and Secretary of the International Congress of University Adult Education. Sagamore Conference papers and those of the New Institutional Forms Project, a research project begun by Liveright to study the development of comprehensive adult education programs, also appear in the collection. International adult education is the focus of records from trips to Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Thailand. Miscellaneous material includes newspaper clippings, War Manpower Commission documents, and material from the Highlander Folk School.
Extent:
8.5 linear ft.
Language:
English and French
Preferred citation:

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Alexander A. Liveright Papers,

Background

Scope and content:

Papers reflecting Liveright's activity in both the CSLEA and ICUAE, as well as his wide-ranging national and international involvement in adult education, form the bulk of the Alexander A. Liveright Papers. Notable in this portion of the collection are papers from the Sagamore Conference (September, 1960) marking the inception of the ICUAE. The CSLEA (with Liveright as its Director) was one of six adult education organizations sponsoring the Conference; Liveright became Secretary of the ICUAE.

Subjects covered include travels associated with the First World Conference and European Study Tour, adult education in Africa, Latin America, and Australia, as well as UNESCO meetings and conferences. The folders pertaining to the CSLEA International Comparative Education Conference at Exeter, New Hampshire are of note, since they form the basis of The Exeter Papers, published by Liveright (1966).

The bulk of the remainder of the collection is from the years 1968-1969, incorporating the phase-out of the CSLEA, Liveright's move to Syracuse University, and his ensuing illness. At Syracuse University, Liveright became associated with the ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Education, plus numerous research and publication projects (Liveright had hoped to complete a book on leaders in adult education before he died). During his illness and at the time of his death, some of Liveright's administrative duties were shared by James Whipple and Robert Blakely; in addition, John Ohliger, Robert Theobald and David Mosconi completed publication projects in progress.

Biographical / historical:

Alexander A. Liveright was born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1907. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin (1929), an M.A. in Guidance and Counseling from Teachers College, Columbia University (1930), and a Ph.D. in Adult Education from the University of Chicago (1956). Over his thirty-year career he was a professor, consultant, researcher and director for various institutions and universities specializing in adult and continuing education.

Liveright was director of the Center for the Study of Liberal Education for Adults (CSLEA) from 1956 until its dissolution in 1968. (The Center was independently located in Chicago from 1951 until 1965, and then was affiliated with Boston University.) In 1966 he spent four months on a round-the-world study sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation. As director of CSLEA, and in his own right, he was involved in a wide range of adult and continuing education programs in the United States, had many contacts with adult education in other countries, and was a leader in international activities such as the International Congress of University Adult Education (ICUAE), of which he was a founding member and, at the time of his death, secretary.

He was on the faculty of George Williams College, Columbia College, University College of the University of Chicago, and the University of Michigan; a member of the Visiting Committee for Summer Schools and Extension Division of Harvard; Executive Director, American Council on Race relations; Director of Labor Education, University of Chicago; consultant to the Research Bureau, U.S. Office of Education; consultant to the Academy for Educational Development; consultant to the Air Line Pilots Association; consultant to the Montana Farmers Union; and Conference Coordinator for the 1956 AEA Conference. From 1967 until his death in 1969, Liveright was Associate Professor of Adult Education at Syracuse University.

Dr. Liveright authored numerous articles, monographs, and book chapters and served on the editorial boards of Convergence and Adult Education.

He died in 1969.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into series based on the various organizations and projects: Boston University, CSLEA, ICUAE, the New Institutional Forms Project, and Syracuse University. Travel includes material relating to trips to Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines. A final division covers Other activities while Miscellaneous includes photographs, clippings, and two audio tapes by Dr. Manet Fowler. The tapes record her interview with C. B. Ratchford, and refer to Liveright in two brief interchanges on Tape 1: on Side A of (after about 5 mm of tape), and on Side B (after about 10 mm of tape).

Because the collection was received as two separate donations several years apart and the two sections were processed separately, the intellectual order of contents shown in the finding aid is not necessarily the same as the physical order. For example, the CSLEA material is located in boxes 1, 2 and 8. Refer to the box numbers given in the finding aid for the correct location of a particular item.

Access and use

Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Terms of access:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Preferred citation:

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Alexander A. Liveright Papers,

Location of this collection:
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries
Bird Library, Room 600
Syracuse, NY 13244, United States
Link to repository site
Contact:
315.443.2697
scrc@syr.edu