George Edgar Vincent : son of Chautauqua

George Edgar Vincent made significant contributions in the first thirty years of the twentieth century in popular education through the Chautauqua Institute, in higher education as president of the University of Minnesota, and in philanthropy as president of the Rockefeller Foundation. Vincent's life spanned a period of tremendous intellectual and social change from 18 64 to 1941. He is interesting because of the balance between continuity and change which he exhibited as a educational theorist, academic administrator, and social reformer. His relationship to the Chautauqua movement provides an explanation for this sense of balance.

This essay will examine the four themes which permeated his thought and work: popular education, the reform of society through education, the integration of knowledge, and a reorientation of goals in terms of role rather than mission. It will suggest how Vincent's Chautauqua exposure to a wide variety of people and ideas and his experience of working in its administration shaped him in a manner that allowed him to incorporate these concerns into a productive career in education and philanthropy.

Digitization of this thesis was made possible by a generous grant from the Jefferson Trust, 2015.