In the early nineteenth century, a farmer and teacher, Josiah Holbrook, of Connecticut, established a movement that brought the best and brightest thinkers to small towns and rural lecture halls, so that a broader range of people could engage with great ideas. It was his belief that a public educated in this way made for good citizens. A democratic republic like ours, he thought, depended on a populace with well-formed minds and good judgment. From his little farm in Connecticut, the movement exploded, and over three thousand Lyceums sprang up around the country, hosting Mark Twain, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Ralph Waldo Emerson and other great thinkers. The Lyceum idea was thoroughly democratic, belonging to working people, people of all ages, and people of all colors and conditions.
He named the movement after a gymnasium (Lykeion) outside Athens where Aristotle would meet with his followers. The mission of these groups was to provide enriching & stimulating learning opportunities that encouraged appreciation, discussion and reflection on topics of social, economic, political, cultural, scientific and artistic relevance. To do this, they would bring in people of great prominence.
“We come from all the divisions and classes of society…to teach and to be taught in our turn. While we mingle together in these pursuits, we shall to know each other more intimately; we shall remove many of the prejudices which ignorance or partial acquaintance with each other had fostered…in the parties and sects into which we are divided, we sometimes learn to love our brother at the expense of him whom we do not in so many respects regard as a brother…we return to our homes and firesides from the Lyceum with kindlier feelings toward one another, because we have learned to know one another better.”
-Thomas Greene, 1826, New Bedford, MA
David Perkins Page was the principal founder and leader in this local movement. They started meeting at the Newbury Town Hall but found an excellent large hall at a recently closed school on High Street at 83-85. Unfortunately, just as the movement took off, the building was sold in 1842 and converted into two half houses destroying the venue. But just then, the perfect venue opened up at the new Newburyport Market near Market Square. The first floor was a fish and general goods market but the second floor was a large lecture hall.
It turned into an excellent place as the Civil War approached for many Abolitionists, Orators and other public philosophers and teachers to share and enrich the lives of the Newburyport Residents. Prominent figures spoke there: Daniel Webster, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson and many others.
The Lyceum Movement began to die out as modern transportation allowed for many to gather in larger cities such as Boston and Portsmouth. By 1880, most across the country had closed or turned into Theatres. The Newburyport Market Place was converted into a fire station with the firemen housed above in 1864.
Fortunately, as the restoration of the city progressed in the mid-70’s, the fire trucks were moved out and the entire building was converted into a restaurant and art gallery on the first floor and a Performing Arts Center on the second. Every time a guest speaker instead of a performing entertainer addresses the people, echoes of its prestigious past can be heard in the hallow halls!
As for the Lyceum Movement, it has been reincarnated by a new non-profit based in Des Moines, Iowa. Promoting themselves as better than TED talks, the movement is beginning again to spread across the country as a desire to share ideas in a respectful, enriching environment is becoming increasingly popular in a divisive nation.
References:
Historical Surveys, City of Newburyport, Historical Commission, 1984.
History of Newburyport 1764-1905, by J. J. Currier, Volumes I & II, Reprinted Newburyport, 1977.
Assessor’s Records, Vision Appraisal, 2009, City of Newburyport Website.
Old Newburyport Houses, by Albert Hale, W.B. Clarke Co., Boston, 1912.
The Lyceum Movement, https://www.lyceummovement.org/our-vision
Memoir of Josiah Holbrook. by Barnard, Henry, F.B. Perkins, Hartford, Conn, 1860