Bestor, Arthur Eugene

Bestor, Arthur Eugene

(1879–1944) educator; born in Dixon, Ill. After graduating from the University of Chicago (1901), he taught history and political science at Franklin College (Indiana) and the University of Chicago. Long interested in adult education, from 1905 on he was active in the Chatauqua movement, becoming director of the Chatauqua Institution (1907–15) and then its president (1915–44). He developed its popular home reading courses, gained degree credits for some of its courses, and after World War I he focused on the teacher training programs and cultural events with which Chatauqua would become most closely identified.