This study traces in detail the lines of development of residential adult education, from the idea which preceded the Grundtvig-Kold Danish folk high schools to the multiplicity of forms existing today, and the social and personal forces which have helped shape its development in various cultural settings. Programs in an agrarian society, an industrial society, and an expanding society are exemplified, respectively, by the Danish movement of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, British short-term residential colleges and antecedents in the form of Workers' Educational Association work and other activities, and the rise of the Chautauqua movement, Danebod, and such specialized American schools as the Highlander Folk School. Residential centers and programs at the University of Minnesota and the University of Florida are described, together with Kellogg Foundation undertakings at Michigan State University and elsewhere. Programs at Oxford University and in Canada, Denmark, Israel, Germany, and black Africa are reviewed, and present trends, conditions, and points of view are discussed. An appendix, 242 references, and a historical overview (1851-1951) are included. (ly)