| What is Chautauqua? The answer to this question may depend largely on who you ask.Below is a list of some of the answers you might receive from people invarious parts of the country -- all of them are correct, so follow theline of thought. A good overview of the word "chautauqua" can behad if the reader will scan through the topics of each list item, and thengo back and read each description. Chautauqua Countyis the westernmost county in New York. It is significant to thislist only because it is home to the Chautauqua Institution. Linkto the Chautauqua County Visitors'Bureau, but only when you've decided you're done learning about theother meanings of 'Chautauqua.' (Chautauqua is also a county or cityname in many parts of the midwestern and western United States.)
TOP Chautauqua,New York is a small town, located on the shore of Chautauqua Lake ata location originally called Fair Point, and the home of The ChautauquaInstitution.
TOP The Chautauqua Literaryand Scientific Circle (CLSC) became thefirst "book club." Many local reading circles participated in readingprograms of the CLSC, for which half of the reading content came from prescribedbooks printed by the Chautauqua Press, and the other half of the readingscame from the monthly publication, The Chautauquan. The significanceof the CLSC cannot be overstated, for it was the genesis of many librariesand universities across the country, as well as its other significant contribution-- it put the name Chautauqua into all the continent to clear the way forthe circuit chautauquas to come into town. TOP The ChautauquaPress published many books geared toward adult education in the late19th and early 20th Century. One of my favorite books from the ChautauquaPress is actually a pamphlet that was published about Chautauqua publications.
TOP The Jewish Chautauqua Society(JCS) was an important idea that was based on the largely protestant ChristianChautauqua Institution model. Reform Rabbi Henry Berkowitz founded theJCS in 1893 in Philadelphia to help teach all people, no matter what background,tolerance and understanding of Judaism. It has been recognized by The ChautauquaInstitution as an important institution in the chautauqua spirit of creatingunderstanding through a human interaction project. For nearly forty years,the JCS resembled the Chautauqua Institution with its summer camp meetings,correspondence school for Sunday school teachers, and similar outreachprograms. TOP
TOP The ChautauquaMovement, sometimes called the Chautauqua Adult Education Movement,is somewhat of a modern term. In the days when it was changing Americanlife, people involved in the process knew that they were part of somethingimportant, but they didn't know what to call it. The developmentof adult education in America owes much of its roots to the work of thefounders of the Chautauqua Institution, who later started the CLSC. andinspired the hundreds of local reading groups that came into existencein North America, and literally around the world. TOP The ChautauquaStamp was a great honor, as well as a mistake. In 1974, the U.S.Post Office issued four stamps to celebrate "Rural America." Oneof the four stamps was to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the ChautauquaInstitution of New York, founded in 1874. However, the mistake camein the scene depicted on the stamp, which showed a tent of the circuitchautauquas of the early Twentieth Century. The Chautauqua Institutionactually had little direct connection with the circuit chautauquas, sothe stamp's mixed up message is certainly a confusing situation, to saythe least. TOP HumanitiesChautauquas, sometimes referred to as the "modern" chautauquas, developedfrom a renewed interest in the circuit chautauqua idea during the 100thAnniversary celebration of the Chautauqua Movement in 1974. However,instead of presenting contemporary speakers, as the circuit chautauquasdid, the council chautauquas are a recreation of the old circuit chautauquaswith scholars portraying historical figures in a first person setting.There are usually three to six scholars who portray characters linked,however directly or indirectly, to a central theme. The humanitieschautauquas are often referred to by The Complete Chautauquanas the "contemporary model" chautauquas, as opposed to the "historic model"chautauquas as with the Chautauqua Institution in New York or the independentchautauquas that are still around or have revived programs. TOP The GreatPlains Chautauqua, originated by the Arts and Humanities Council ofNorth Dakota in 1976, is the father of the "modern" or "contemporary model"chautauqua. The format that is used by most of the humanities councilchautauquas came from The Great Plains Chautauqua. The scholar assumesthe dress and character of a historic figure for a monologue on the stageof a large tent, then, while still in character, the person will answera few questions from the audience. The final part of the eveningis when the scholar puts aside the character and answers questions of theaudience as the scholar. The evening is usually begun with localmusical entertainment of some sort. The most interesting part issometimes during the period when the scholar takes questions from the audience.There are six state humanities councils that have formed a partnershipto support The Great Plains Chautauqua, they are North Dakota, South Dakota,Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and, recently added, Iowa. The Arts and HumanitiesCouncil of Tulsa Chautauqua is perhaps the best known, if not the onlycontemporary model chautauqua produced by a city -- most humanities councilchautauquas are produced by state councils. With the 2002 programto be presented in June in a tent at the campus of Oklahoma State University-Tulsa,the Council Tulsa Chautauqua has produced 11 different programs in 11 consecutiveyears in the city of Tulsa, and in most years, the Tulsa Chautauqua hastraveled to one or two other towns in Oklahoma. The Great PlainsChautauqua was brought to Tulsa for its first chautauqua in 1992, but eachyear since, the Tulsa Chautauqua Committee has produced its own originalprogram with a different theme for each year. Some of the originalChautauqua scholars from the Tulsa Chautauqua programs have gone on toparticipate in chautauquas and History Alive programs all over the country. TOP Winter Chautauqua, is not a newconcept, but this use is to refer to two versions of winter chautauquathat are present today. The first is simply a Historic WinterChautauqua concept that originated at Florida Chautauqua Assembly inDeFuniak Springs, Florida. It was closely modeled after the summerassembly of the original Chautauqua in New York and originally ran from1885 to 1920. The Florida Winter Chautauqua was revived in 1996 andcontinues to hold an annual February weekend event. The second formis that of the Humanities Winter Chautauqua started in 2002 by TulsaCommunity College Assistant Professor Suzan King and Oklahoma Center forPoets and Writers Director Theresa Miller at OSU-Tulsa. The TulsaWinter Chautauqua might be best described as a cross between the contemporarychautauqua model -- with the first person performance of historic and literaryfigures -- and the historic lyceum model -- with a winter scheduleof lectures in public auditoriums. History Alive!,also known as School Chautauqua, is a program that takes the "contemporarymodel" chautauqua idea to the public schools. Children in many stateshave benefited from having people from history come into their schoolsto speak. To bring a real person into contact with students enablesstudents to have a better understanding of history and the people who shapedit. This program is usually an individual historic figure portrayedby a scholar, as opposed to a humanities council chautauqua program thatwill have several scholars around a central theme. TOP Student Chautauquas,also known as Junior Chautauquas have become a part of the curriculumof many schools across the nation in the past few years. The childrenthemselves become the "scholars." They study a person from history,learn about his or her life, and develop a monologue to present "in character"to other students. Some students have become very talented at thissort of program. Several of the humanities council chautauquas areauditioning the best of the student chautauqua scholars to showcase asopening cameos for their chautauqua events or even complete student chautauquas. TOP Specialty Chautauquashave become known for emphasizing the arts and entertainment aspects ofchautauquas, such as programs offered by the New Old Time Chautauqua onthe West Coast. Musical Theater Chautauqua, for example, has becomesomething of a well known program in the Great Lakes area. This form ofchautauqua has revived one aspect of the circuit chautauquas -- music.The circuit chautauquas of old brought music to the people of rural Americain tents, along with all the other programing. The Lake SuperiorBig Top Chautauqua has brought musical performance and theater to the locationthree miles south of Bayfield, Wisconsin, in a tent each summer since 1986-- and since 1994 with Tent Show Radio, a national network radio programthat originates from the tent auditorium and is heard on Wisconsin PublicRadio and other public radio programs around the country. ArtsFestival Chautauquas appear to be another form of specialty chautauquas-- one such chautauqua in Madison, Indiana, has been an annual event for30 years, which also includes a food fest and musical entertainment, andan arts festival chautauqua held its 16th Annual event in 2000. Democratic Education at CAL, is a popular educationorganization that one might find linked to the word "chautauqua," becausefor the first few years of operation from 1981 to 1984 it was called "Chautauqua-- A Center for Democratic Education." Read Berkeley Professor JohnHurst's article on adult education called PopularEducation, which also has information about the Highlander Researchand Education Center, an adult education institution in Tennessee thathas been working in the rural areas of the Appalachians and the deep Southsince 1932 with such former students as Martin Luther King, Jr. and RosaParks. Disney Chautauqua,known as DisneyInstitute, was inspired by Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO MichaelD. Eisner 's family vacation to the Chautauqua Institution in New York.Linkto an article called Returnof the Chautauqua. Senior Chautauquatakes form in such programs as Elder hostel, and the Southern Baptist Chautauqua.One organization, the Southern Baptist Convention, has bible study, crafts,and other special interest programs included in their Chautauqua -- aswell as a golf tournament (greens fees not included in the Chautauqua fee).LinktoSouthern BaptistChautauqua. Link to Spurgeon'sCollege Summer Chautauqua, of London, England. TOP Cyber Chautauquashave stretched the use of the word to its limit, but I feel it must beincluded in this list of the meanings of chautauqua since they have kepteducation and the arts and sciences as their main focus. The "chautauquas"found on the Internet take two forms, the Continuing Education ChautauquaSeminar and the Virtual Chautauqua. Continuing EducationChautauqua Seminars are a part of adult education on the Internet.However, many are for the training of educators in certain fields of study,to prepare them to go back to the classroom with new information and technology,such as the program of the National Science Foundation Chautauqua. We livein an age where numerous professional members of a political, scientificor business community can come together in an instant, without the longtrain ride to a lakeside resort. And individuals who want to benefitfrom such a gathering can "log in" from their rural Iowa towns withouthaving to wait for the big tent to arrive with the circuit chautauqua railroadcars. In some ways the chautauqua of the Internet, and, even better,the emerging National Computational Science Association Alliance AccessGrid, which is better at connecting people than the World Wide Web, haveturned cyberspace into the big top tent for the chautauquas of the future.VirtualChautauqua has become a part of the Internet, where Web surfers candownload music and other recorded arts and humanities performances.It is a trend that is likely to grow with the use of online services. TOP | Index forthis page: What is Chautauqua? TOP Pages on This Website:ChautauquaIntroduction TOP |
