In his late 70s, after many years of teaching children, Alcott turned his attention to adults. Adamant that learning was a lifelong process, he opened the Concord School of Philosophy to "perpetuate new trends in American thought," according to The Concord School of Philosophy: A Short History, by Julie Dapper. His academy promoted creative thinking and the study of transcendentalism, a philosophy that shunned materialism, focused on the search for truth, and taught that humans were meant to live in harmony with nature.
"It was quite a concept," Turnquist said of the school. "He was always pushing the envelope."
When Alcott died on March 4, 1888, the school died with him; it closed in July of that year after a memorial service in his honor. But his commitment to never-ending learning lives on.
"Bronson Alcott always seemed to be good at stirring up in people the idea that you can aspire to more, that you can be yourself but at the same time read about Aristotle and the ancient Greeks and then talk about modern society and where we are headed," Turnquist said. "He really helped make Concord the setting of the literary flowering of New England."
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