Adult educators have devoted considerable attention to the issues of memory and literacy, but very little of it has been historical in its perspective. The article surveys the spread of literate culture in Western Europe and especially England and the decline of the ancient arts of Memory, both greatly attributable to the advent of printing. The proliferation of print and the growth of literacy obviated the need for the ingenious mnemonic techniques of Cicero, Quintilian, and the anonymous author of Ad Herrenium, as well as the collective and sometimes mythic memory which served as historical archive. It is argued that these two strands of current adult education research-memory and literacy-not only have intriguing historical roots but are closely intertwined.
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