Collection inventory


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Adult Education Audio and Video Collection

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


The adult education holdings are collectively known as the
Alexander N. Charters Library of Resources for Educators of Adults.

Finding aid created by: Alexander Charters, George Abbot
Date: Jun 2003



Biographical History

The collection of audio and video recordings at Syracuse University began as a project of University College to record the voices of important figures in adult education. It grew to include recordings from the University of Georgia's Mentor I and II programs and Gretchen Bersch's "Conversation on Lifelong Learning" project, as well as Dr. Charters' own personal recollections and collection of tapes. SUPCE publications MSS 37 and 48, "Adult Education Sound and Video Recordings," published in 1992 and 2003, listed most of this material but have been superceded by this finding aid.


Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Adult education audio and video collection contains audio and video recordings of a variety of adult education events and topics, including interviews, colloquiums, presentations, lectures, speeches, broadcasts, and more. The collection is divided by format. Reel-to-reel recordings include among other things material from the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, the "Sing Your America" series from Encyclopedia Britannica, a set of 90+ interviews of adult educators collected by Herbert Hunsaker under the title "Extending the Resources of the University into the community," and "People Under Communism," a series of lectures on the Soviet Union and communism by Merle Fainsod, Alex Inkeles, and Harold Fisher, all of Harvard University. Audiocassettes consists of interviews, addresses, seminars, class presentations and more, including 17 interviews of adult educators done by Joseph W. Jacque. U-Matic videotapes contains tapes of two colloquia and a seminar held at Syracuse University in 1980 and 1981. Videocassettes contains recordings of Gretchen Bersch's Mentor I and Mentor II series, interviews with significant figures in the early evolution of adult education as a field. Interviewees include Paul Essert, Herbert Hunsaker, Wilbur Hallenbeck, Cyril Houle, Malcolm Knowles, Phyllis Cunningham, William Griffith, George Aker, Alexander Charters, and more.

Twenty seven media items are listed as missing from the original inventory as of November 2023.


Arrangement of the Collection

The collection is arranged by media format and is then listed in alphabetical order.


Restrictions

Access 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.

Access to the tapes requires advance notice for production of a listening copy.

Use Restrictions:

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


Related Material

All of the tapes labeled with "VT" are transferred to Syracuse University Archives, as part of the Synapse Collection.

Recordings from the collection have been digitized. Please contact the repository listed above for more information.

Special Collections Research Center has a number of collections related to adult education, both of individuals and organizations. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.


Subject Headings

Persons

Adler, Mortimer Jerome, 1902-2001.
Bersch, Gretchen.
Blakely, Robert J.
Charters, Alexander N.
Essert, Paul L.
Hendrickson, Andrew, 1899-
Houle, Cyril O. (Cyril Orvin), 1913-1998.
Hunsaker, Herbert Cason, 1898-
Knowles, Malcolm S. (Malcolm Shepherd), 1913-1997.
McClusky, Howard Y., 1900-1982.
Mezirow, Jack, 1923-2014.
Sheats, Paul H., 1907-

Corporate Bodies

Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.

Associated Titles

Conversations on lifelong learning (University of Alaska).
Junto 2000.
Mentors I (University of Georgia).
Mentors II (University of Georgia).

Subjects

Adult education teachers -- Interviews.
Adult education.
Citizenship -- Education.
Comparative education.
Continuing education.
Distance education -- United States.
Educators -- United States -- Interviews.

Genres and Forms

Audiocassettes.
Audiotapes.
Sound recordings.
VHS.
Videotapes.

Occupations

Adult education teachers.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Adult Education Audio and Video Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Various. Audiocassettes adult_ed_av_842 through 855 (old numbers 8900 through 8909), gift of Alex Charters, 2016.


Table of Contents

Reel to reel tapes

Audiocassettes

Videocassettes


Inventory

Note on alternate formats:

Recordings from the collection have been digitized. Please contact the repository listed above for more information.