The Original TED Talks, But Better

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, 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.

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

Why Bring the Lyceum Back?

We still believe in Holbrook’s vision. People have not changed. Human beings have always felt a need to come together with their neighbors and ask the big, timeless questions. Today, there is a dearth of venues for doing so, but the desire is still there. Asking these questions together, we can build better lives, better community, better democracy.

The 6 Habits of Lyceum Conversation

We make it a habit to:

1. Read our neighbor’s words in the best light.

2. Talk for the sake of truth and understanding, not victory.

3. See ourselves as fundamentally on the same team, even with those who disagree.

4. Acknowledge what we don’t yet know.

5. Talk for the sake of building up community.

6. Look for something to love in every person.

The Lyceum Movement is a Nonprofit Headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa.