The Basic Program has always been conceived of as a unity in which faculty and students share in the activity of coming to grips with the greatest thought of all time.
– The Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults: A Self-Study Report (May 1959)
Both because so much of my professional life has been connected with the University of Chicago Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults and because I have been the unofficial “historian” of the program for over a decade now, collecting a range of information about the program in one place “kills two birds with one stone” as it were — it provides additional background about the kinds of work that I do and it provides a resource for those interested in the history of program.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for or if you have suggestions about material that you think belongs here, please contact me. Contributions of additional relevant material are also gratefully accepted.
(N.B.: The official archives of the Basic Program are maintained by the current Chair of the Basic Program, the staff of the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies and the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center.)
In the Media
Works by and/or about the Basic Program and/or notable figures associated with the program include:
Video
- “Leo Strauss on Liberal Education”
- “Lifelong Learning: The Basic Program at the University of Chicago”
Audio
Print
- A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise and Reign of the “Great Books of the Western World” Series and the Heyday of the American Middlebrow
- What is a Classic? Two Talks on Liberal Education
Web
Notable Figures
Notable figures previously associated with the Basic Program include:
- Allan Bloom (1930–1992)
- Cyril O. Houle (1913–1998)
- Galway Kinnell (1927–2014)
- George Anastaplo (1925–2014)
- Herman L. Sinaiko (1929–2011)
- Maurice F.X. Donohue (1910/1–1995)
- Mortimer J. Adler (1902–2001)
Historical Highlights
Archival material about the 1946 founding of the Basic Program includes:
Archival material about the 1996 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Basic Program includes:
Archival material about the evolution of the Basic Program curriculum includes:
Archival information about the evolution of the Basic Program regular curriculum reading list includes:
Sundry archival material about the history of the Basic Program includes:
Students
Publicly available information about students of the Basic Program includes: