Adult Education and the Public Library
in 19th Century Wolverhampton
Patrick Quirke


In this article Patrick Quirke traces the history of adult education classes in Wolverhampton, dealing particularly with the  classes run by the Wolverhampton Free Library from 1873 to 1902.  In tracing this history he explains the precursors to these classes and how the Public Library Act of 1855 was adopted here.

Footnote references are, for the purposes of presenting the article as web pages, given here as inline notes in square brackets.

The story is told in the following parts:

Adult Education in Wolverhampton before 1869

The Tradesmen's and Mechanics' Institute

The Athenaeum and Mechanics' Library

The Working Men's College

The Art School

The Adoption of the Public Library Act 1855

The Free Library Adoption Committee

The Committee's Campaign

The Establishment of the Library

The Wolverhampton Free Library Classes 1873 to 1902

The Battle to start Classes

Running the Classes

An Assessment of the Classes

The Development of the Classes

Money and Recognition

The Developments of the 1880s

The 1890s:  Elliot's Plan

The End of the Library Classes


   
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