The Boston Lyceum of Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, was a civic association dedicated to popular education

Popular education

Popular education is a concept grounded in notions of class, political struggle, and social transformation. The term is a translation from the Spanish educación popular or the Portuguese educação popular and rather than the English usage as when describing a 'popular television program,' popular...

 in the form of "lectures, discussions, ... declamation," and writing contests. It began "in Chauncy Hall on 25 June 1829. On 13 August 1829 it formed its classes and made provisions for lectures and debates." 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). Leaders included George Bancroft

George Bancroft

George Bancroft was an American historian and statesman who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state and at the national level. During his tenure as U.S. Secretary of the Navy, he established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1845...

, Timothy Claxton, James T. Fields, Abbott Lawrence

Abbott Lawrence

Abbott Lawrence was a prominent American businessman, politician, and philanthropist...

, William H. Prescott

William H. Prescott

William Hickling Prescott was an American historian and Hispanist, who is widely recognized by historiographers to have been the first American scientific historian...

, William D. Ticknor,
Amasa Walker

Amasa Walker

Amasa Walker was an American economist and United States Representative, and was the father of Francis Amasa Walker.-Biography:...

 and others.

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?"
• 1835: "Do moral or physical causes have the greatest influence on determining national character?"

Lecturers

Among the many lecturers:

• Nehemiah Adams
• J.A. Bolles
• David Paul Brown
• Rufus Choate
  Rufus Choate
  Rufus Choate , American lawyer and orator, was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, a descendant of an English family which settled in Massachusetts in 1643. His first cousin, physician George Choate, was the father of George C. S. Choate and Joseph Hodges Choate...
  
  
• William M. Cornell
• C.C. Emerson
• James Pollard Espy
  James Pollard Espy
  For the fictional character, see The Magicians of Xanth.James Pollard Espy was a U.S. meteorologist. Espy developed a convection theory of storms, explaining it in 1836 before the American Philosophical Society and in 1840 before the French Académie des Sciences and the British Royal Society...
  
  
• Edward Everett
  Edward Everett
  Edward Everett was an American politician and educator from Massachusetts. Everett, a Whig, served as U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State...
  
  

• Dr. Grigg
• George S. Hillard
  George Stillman Hillard
  George Stillman Hillard was an American lawyer and author. Besides developing his Boston legal practice , he served in the Massachusetts legislature, edited several Boston journals, and wrote on literature, politics and travel.-Biography:Hillard was born at Machias, Maine on September 22, 1808...
  
  
• Oliver Wendell Holmes
  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat...
  
  
• Dr. C.T. Jackson
• N. Jones
• Rev. John Pierpont
• Edgar Allan Poe
  Edgar Allan Poe
  Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
  
  

• John Osborne Sargent
• William H. Simmons
• Charles Sumner
  Charles Sumner
  Charles Sumner was an American politician and senator from Massachusetts. An academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War and Reconstruction,...
  
  
• B.B. Thatcher
• H.T. Tuckerman
• Amasa Walker
• E.M.P. Wells

Further reading

• Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Boston Lyceum. Boston: 1829-[1846?].
• Family Lyceum 1 (13 Oct. 1832)
• Howard M. Wach. "Expansive Intellect and Moral Agency": Public Culture in Antebellum Boston." Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 107 (1995), pp. 30-56.