Boston Lyceum

The Boston Lyceum (est.1829)[1] of Boston, Massachusetts was a civic association dedicated to popular education in the form of "lectures, discussions, ... declamation," and writing contests.[2] It began "in Chauncy Hall on 25 June 1829 (1829-06-25). On 13 August 1829 it formed its classes and made provisions for lectures and debates."[3] Annual members' "exhibitions" of elocution took place in various venues around town, such as the Masonic Temple (1832), Tremont Hall (1839) and the Odeon (1840).[4][5] Leaders included[6] George Bancroft, Timothy Claxton,[7] James T. Fields, Abbott Lawrence, William H. Prescott, William D. Ticknor,[8] and Amasa Walker.[9] Among the many lecturers:[4] Nehemiah Adams, J. A. Bolles, David Paul Brown,[10] Rufus Choate, William M. Cornell,[11] C. C. Emerson, James Pollard Espy,[10] Edward Everett, Dr. Grigg,[12] George S. Hillard,[13] Oliver Wendell Holmes,[10] Dr. C. T. Jackson,[14] N. Jones,[4] Rev. John Pierpont,[15] Edgar Allan Poe,[16][17][18] John Osborne Sargent,[19] William H. Simmons, Charles Sumner,[20] B. B. Thatcher, Henry Theodore Tuckerman, Amasa Walker, and E.M.P. Wells.

Debates

Some of the questions formally debated by members:

  • 1832: "Can businessmen possessing the advantages afforded by Lyceums and similar associations, qualify themselves as well for the highest trusts and most responsible duties of public stations, as professional men of scientific and literary attainments?"
  • 1834: "Does the multiplicity of societies at the present day, on the whole, impede individual action?"[4]
  • 1835: "Do moral or physical causes have the greatest influence on determining national character?"[4]

See also

References
  1. Boston Almanac, 1838
  2. Abel Bowen (1838), Bowen's picture of Boston (3rd ed.), Boston: Otis, Broaders and company, OCLC 5204074, OL 6905756M
  3. Helen R. Deese and Guy R. Woodall (1986). "A Calendar of Lectures Presented by the Boston Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (1829-1847)". Studies in the American Renaissance.
  4. American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1
  5. "Elocution class of the Boston Lyceum", The Essayist, vol. 1, no. 4, April 1832
  6. Massachusetts Register and United States Calendar for 1844, 1779
  7. James D. Watkinson (1990), "Useful Knowledge? Concepts, Values, and Access in American Education, 1776-1840", History of Education Quarterly, vol. 30
  8. "Old Corner Bookstore", New England Magazine, November 1903
  9. Memorial Biographies of New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1853-1855, vol. 7, 1907
  10. Daily Atlas, Boston, September 8, 1841
  11. Daily Atlas, Boston, February 16, 1842
  12. Scientific Tracts and Family Lyceum, Boston, March 15, 1834
  13. Scientific Tracts and Family Lyceum, Boston, January 1, 1834
  14. Scientific Tracts and Family Lyceum, Boston, January 15, 1834
  15. Daily Atlas, Boston, March 23, 1841
  16. Ottavio M. Casale (1973), "The Battle of Boston: A Revaluation of Poe's Lyceum Appearance", American Literature, vol. 45
  17. Katherine Hemple Prown (1993), "The Cavalier and the Syren: Edgar Allan Poe, Cornelia Wells Walter, and the Boston Lyceum Incident", New England Quarterly, vol. 66
  18. Kent P. Ljungquist (1995), "Poe's 'Al Aaraaf' and the Boston Lyceum: Contributions to Primary and Secondary Bibliography", Victorian Periodicals Review, vol. 28
  19. John Osborne Sargent (1844), A Lecture on the late improvements in steam navigation and the arts of naval warfare, with a brief notice of Ericsson's caloric engine, delivered before the Boston Lyceum, New York: Wiley and Putnam
  20. "Employment of time: lecture before the Boston Lyceum, delivered in the Federal Street Theatre, February 18, 1846", Works of Charles Sumner, Boston: Lee and Shepard, vol. 1, 1870

Further reading
  • Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Boston Lyceum, Boston 1829-1846?
  • Family Lyceum, vol. 1, October 13, 1832
  • Howard M. Wach (1995), "'Expansive Intellect and Moral Agency': Public Culture in Antebellum Boston", Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 3rd series, vol. 107, p. 30–56
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