[2] The Teaching Company, founded by Tom Rollins in 1990, changed its name to The Great Courses and then to Wondrium, It is currently owned by Brentwood Associates PE and is headquartered in Chantilly which is west of Fairfax, Virginia.

In 1990, the company was founded by Thomas M. Rollins, former chief counsel of the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources.

[10][11] Along with the rebranding, the company announced 1,000 hours of new content sourced from licensing agreements with Kino Lorber, MagellanTV, and Craftsy.

As of 2021, it included over 7,500 hours of content in the format of documentaries, independent films, docuseries, short-form series, featurettes, courses, and tutorials.

[11] The Great Courses line of content typically features University level experts and professors presenting in-depth learning across multiple lectures.

"[5][14] Content covers different subjects and categories such as science, math, economics, literature, language, history, religion, philosophy, fine arts, music, better living, health, wellness, how-to courses, personal enrichment, hobbies and leisure, and travel.

[13][5][7] Self-described fans include Bill Gates and George Lucas, who delivered taped opening remarks to a Great Courses conference in 2015.

[17] The lectures often involve computer graphics and animations; some offer an optional PDF guidebook to serve as a custom-made textbook for the course.

This collection consists of more than 300 courses on subjects such as philosophy, ancient and modern history, photography, professional development, science and cooking.

[23] Customers can choose from over 1,200 titles in subject categories including the arts, science, literature, self-improvement, history, music, philosophy, theology, economics, mathematics, business, professional advancement, photography, and cooking.

[25][26][24] Wondrium Journeys are immersive vacations "designed to bring the company's vast collection of travel courses, videos, documentaries, and series to life.