The Junior College, typically considered an American creation, is an institution whose inception and early development was greatly affected by a variety of Western European influences. English and Scottish elements during the Colonial period, and the influence of French ideas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries had significant impact on the development of the philosophical perspectives and "personality" of the junior college. Germanic influences (particularly on the early American educational leaders) are traced from the 19th century to the formalization of the junior college movement marked by the establishment of the American Association of Junior Colleges in 1920. (MB)