ABSTRACT
In the inter war period, from 1924 to 1941, the most active force in the adult education field was not an adult education institution or scholar but a philanthropic foundation: the Carnegie Corporation of New York City. The Corporation’s Board directed Frederick Keppel to initiate a program of adult education - to be directed toward service goals and not profit goals - in anticipation of increased leisure time and the need for out-of-school educational opportunities. The principles for organizing and applying knowledge to individual and social needs were derived from the purposes of liberal education: to create open-mindedness and tolerance. Adult education that encompassed all the educational needs of adults could not be narrowly defined. Frederick P. Keppel wanted to enlarge the purposes that adult education programs served. Educators of adults faced the unique problem of having to get the interest of adults and relating materials to their problems and everyday concerns.
