Pigot Memorial Lecture Series: informal education, 1825-1965

As part of UPEI’s 50th anniversary, the Robertson Library is presenting a lecture series to celebrate the historical roots of higher education on Prince Edward Island and its future. The series is named after educator Frank Pigot, honoured as a UPEI Founder for his work building the Library’s PEI Collection and University Archives.

Dr. Edward MacDonald’s will deliver the first lecture of the series on Tuesday, March 26 from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI’s SDU Main Building. Dr. MacDonald’s presentation is titled “The School of Experience: A Patchwork Quilt of Informal Island Education, 1825-1965.”

While the Island’s formal education system evolved slowly and painfully across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, other, more informal modes of teaching and learning developed to answer Islanders’ educational needs. From the agricultural societies and mechanics’ institutes of the first half of the 20th century, through the farmer’s institutes that followed, to the adult education underpinning of the Antigonish Movement and the DIY ethos of community schools in the 1960s, these informal systems of education shared one characteristic: they emphasized various kinds of practical, applied learning for Islanders who found themselves outside the province’s structured educational system.

Refreshments will be provided. Everyone is welcome.