Early studies of adult education in the United States included James Truslow Adams' book, "Frontiers of American Culture: A Study of Adult Education in a Democracy" (1944), an unconvincing attempt to classify adult education instructions and programs and to establish the relation of democracy to adult education; C. Hartley Grattan's "In Quest of Knowledge" (1955), a defense of liberal education; and Malcolm Knowles' dissertation, "The Adult Education Movement in the United States" (1962), an attempt to rationalize, classify, and relate the parts of adult education. In 1976, a new interest in the history of adult education was signaled by a special bicentennial issue of "Adult Education," and interest in historical educational research was sparked by several preconferences and an occasional newsletter. Although the published output is small, three emphases were taken in later research. The first is an attempt to understand the heritage of the field, especially, the writers and theorists of adult education such as Eduard C. Lindeman. (An example is Moreland and Goldenstein's book, "Pioneers in Adult Education.") A second emphasis has been to analyze the ideology that underlies the work of adult educators (Robert Carlson, "The Quest for Conformity: Americanization through Education"). A third emphasis is on universal dimensions of patterns of learning (Cyril Houle's "Patterns of Learning: New Perspectives on Life-Span Education"). Social and cultural historians have studied adult education as related to the diffusion of knowledge, cultural intervention by the dominant class, and role or status changes by a subjugated group (Appalachian education, the women's movement). (KC)