INTRODUCTION
The year was 1874 when Methodist minister John A. Vincent and Ohio
businessman Lewis Miller hit upon a unique idea. Why not combine
educational， recreational， and social activities with a program of religious
instruction and thus create a \"learning vacation\"?
Since that first， very successful undertaking at Lake Chautauqua in
New York State， opportunities for formal and informal learning vacations
have grown enormously in number and in popularity. The trend has been
greatly influenced by Alumni College Seminar Programs begun at
Dartmouth in the 1960s and the Elderhostel movement， a development of
the 1970s for those age 60 and over. In addition to such campus-based
programs， academic and cultural institutions of all types as well as many
commercial organizations now offer vacations with an educational
emphasis.
Taking part in so many of these vacations has made me into what I
jokingly call a \"professional seminarian.\" At any rate， since no central
source of information concerning such programs formerly existed， I was
motivated to undertake such a compendium， which was originally
published in 1977 and concentrated on the learning vacation programs of
academic institutions.
Since that edition， I have added categories on travel; archaeology，
science， and history; arts and crafts， etc.， as shown in the current Table of
Contents.
It is interesting to note that a century after the original learning
vacation， ever-increasing numbers of people favor vacations that are more
than an escape from their regular routine. They are looking for the mental
stimulation， personal challenge， and social opportunities that only a
learning vacation can give.
Gerson G. Eisenberg
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