Chautauqua
Iroquois for either “two moccasins tied together” or “jumping fish,” the term “Chautauqua” has become a “catch word” in American society for the secular education movement.
The Chautauqua movement was founded in 1874 in southwestern New York in the town of Chautauqua, by John Heyl Vincent and Lewis Miller, who rented the site of a Methodist camp meeting to use as a summer school for Sunday school teachers. Known as the Chautauqua Institution, it soon came to reflect the nationwide interest in teaching as an occupation, rather than a religious mission.
Although both Vincent and Miller were Methodists, the Chautauqua movement has always been non-denominational in nature. In 1878, the New York Chautauqua sponsored the first book club in the United States, and this led to the creation of 10,000 such reading circles throughout the country.
Its scope had broadened, even to the inclusion of a distance learning (correspondence) course, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, designed to bring the chautauqua focus on education to all classes. By the end of the nineteenth century, Theodore Roosevelt had branded the Chautauqua as “typically American, in that it is typical of America at its best.”
As the movement expanded, “traveling” chautauquas were formed; held in public halls or circus tents, and eventually in permanent auditoriums, these chautauquas became the center for speeches, performances, and public gatherings.
Two of the original chatauqua parks, a 26-acre park in Boulder, Colorado, as well as the original one in Chautauqua, New York, continue to operate. By the early twentieth century, there were twenty-one traveling Chautauqua companies, and 93 circuits across the United States.
After 1900, these circuit chautauquas were the central expression of the movement, and by 1915, approximately 12,000 communities had hosted at least one Chautauqua. By the mid 1930s the movement had essentially disintegrated, mainly due to the advent of the automobile culture, with media such as radio and movies the main culprit.
Two somewhat surprising social realities also predicted the demise of the Chautauqua movement. The non-denominational nature of the Chautauqua movement was no match for the increasing evangelical spirit of the Roaring Twenties, and as the number of women increased in the workforce, the number of chautauquas surprisingly decreased.
The Chautauqua movement had served as the launch pad for the education and careers of many lower – and middle class women, and as more women entered the workforce, there was less time for Chautauqua participation.
The Chautauqua movement experienced a revitalization at the end of the twentieth century, and the Chautauqua Institution averages approximately 7500 residents during its nine-week sessions, and approximately 8000 students during its Chautauqua Summer Schools. Overseen by a 24-member board of trustees, the Institution is attempting to ensure the survival of the Chautauqua.
Bibliography
“Chautauqua History.” Online. http://www.chautauqua-ave.com/history.htm
“Chautauqua”. Online. http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/alliance/chautauqua/History.html
