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