Trends in the academic field of adult education were examined by exploring the collective perspectives of 52 long-time university professors in the United States. The following data sources were used: biographical vitae; written responses to an interview guide; and semi-structured oral history interviews conducted primarily by telephone. The study findings were used to construct a model of the first three generations of adult education professors. Across the generations, the early experiences that led people to the academic field of adult education manifested similar patterns, with most individuals having come from teaching, cooperative extension, religious education, and military education. Most of those interviewed supported a definition of adult education emphasizing core beliefs about the unique differences separating adults from children as learners. Many were self-described generalists who referred to adult education as a field of practice focusing on concepts of androgyny and transformative learning. Areas of concern cited by those interviewed included the decline in university graduate programs, fragmentation of the field into various subfields of practice, increasingly narrow research and literature, and a lack of national political representation. (The following items are appended: list of participants; diagram of adult education genealogy; and information about the 18 individuals and 12 books most frequently identified as influential by practitioners.) (MN)