“The Most American Thing”

In the 1920s, the tent meetings during the summer months called Chautauquas educated and entertained an estimated 45 million Americans in over 10,000 communities in 45 states, according to research done at the University of Iowa. When radio and film arrived, however, people began spending their summers much more at home and in movie theaters than in the campgrounds and parks around and under the big Chautauqua tents.

The Great Depression marked the decline of this movement of “education and uplift” that began in 1874 on the western shore of Lake Chautauqua in western New York state where Methodist preacher John Heyl Vincent and businessman Lewis Miller launched week-long Christian education and revival camps. Within a decade, these popular assemblies sprang up in increasing numbers throughout rural and small-town America.

By bringing a large variety of secular speakers, re-enactors of famed personalities, as well as plays and music, onto the Chautauqua stage, the organizers greatly broadened the meetings’ appeal. When it became too expensive and inefficient for communities far apart from each other to assemble their own Chautauqua casts, touring companies filled the demand with attractive multi-day programs and popular performers.

Some politicians and social activists were quick to use the Chautauqua as a ready-made forum in which to address and influence the common folks that flocked there to learn and be entertained. Teddy Roosevelt loved to appear in Chautauquas. He called them the “most American thing in America.” William Jennings Bryan became one of the most sought-after Chautauqua attractions. No wonder he called the Chautauqua a “potent factor in molding the mind of the nation.”

In the 1980s, some state humanities councils began to revive the Chautauqua tradition by organizing touring companies and extending grants to interested communities to get the shows off the ground. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Morgan County Historical Society hosted a five-day Heartland Chautauqua under the theme, “Inside the Civil War,” in 1999. It was the first touring company to come to Jacksonville since 1930.

In 2002, the same company, sponsored by the humanities councils of Missouri and Illinois, gave Jacksonville a portrayal of “The Jazz Age,” featuring Henry Ford, Edna Ferber, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Bix Beiderbecke, Harry Truman, and Coco Chanel. The Prairieland Chautauquas of 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004 were organized solely by the Morgan County Historical Society and financed partially with grants from the Illinois Humanities Council and partially by generous local donors.

Aside from Jacksonville, no other community in Illinois is presently offering an annual five-day Chautauqua. For the past six years, Morgan County’s Chautauqua under the big 40 ft. by 80 ft. tent has attracted an average annual audience of 2,000, including increasing numbers of visitors from outside the county and the state.

The humanities councils want Chautauquas to be offered to the public as an educational service free of charge. That, however, places a heavy fund-raising burden on the organizers. Professional and semiprofessional re-enactors of historical personalities command honoraria from $500 up to several thousand dollars, depending upon demand. Weeklong tent rentals run over $2,000, sound and lighting experts cost at least $1,500.

Given the traditional American reliance upon private enterprise and private philanthropy, largely government-financed agencies, such as the humanities and arts councils, cannot be expected to provide more than seed money for continuing cultural projects. Hence, sound and reliable funding will have to be found if the Chautauqua is to be a returning feature of the community’s calendar of events.

If you wonder whether the Prairieland Chautauqua is worth the effort and money spent on it, consider what it will offer again in its seventh season from Thursday, September 1 to Monday, September 5: eight portrayals of historical personalities: Julian Sturtevant, Catharine Beecher, Owen Lovejoy, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jonathan Baldwin Turner, Stephen Douglas, William Jennings Bryan, and Abraham Lincoln; three colloquia focusing on Edward Beecher, Joe Patterson Smith, and co-education at Illinois College; Ken Bradbury’s play “Ring the Bell;” nine concerts featuring The Brad Floreth Quartet, Stephanie Smith-Wilkey, the Prairie Grass Ensemble, the Crimson Strings, Diane Dietz, Garrett Allman, Rudolf Zuiderveld, Ann Marie Stahel, the Trio con Brio led by pianist Lenora Suppan-Gehrich of Quincy University, and the piano duo of Ken Bradbury and David Zink.

Who could ask for anything more?

Wolf D. Fuhrig	Home	08-28-05
“The Most American Thing”
In the 1920s, the tent meetings during the summer months called Chautauquas educated and entertained an estimated 45 million Americans in over 10,000 communities in 45 states, according to research done at the University of Iowa. When radio and film arrived, however, people began spending their summers much more at home and in movie theaters than in the campgrounds and parks around and under the big Chautauqua tents. The Great Depression marked the decline of this movement of “education and uplift” that began in 1874 on the western shore of Lake Chautauqua in western New York state where Methodist preacher John Heyl Vincent and businessman Lewis Miller launched week-long Christian education and revival camps. Within a decade, these popular assemblies sprang up in increasing numbers throughout rural and small-town America. By bringing a large variety of secular speakers, re-enactors of famed personalities, as well as plays and music, onto the Chautauqua stage, the organizers greatly broadened the meetings’ appeal. When it became too expensive and inefficient for communities far apart from each other to assemble their own Chautauqua casts, touring companies filled the demand with attractive multi-day programs and popular performers. Some politicians and social activists were quick to use the Chautauqua as a ready-made forum in which to address and influence the common folks that flocked there to learn and be entertained. Teddy Roosevelt loved to appear in Chautauquas. He called them the “most American thing in America.” William Jennings Bryan became one of the most sought-after Chautauqua attractions. No wonder he called the Chautauqua a “potent factor in molding the mind of the nation.” In the 1980s, some state humanities councils began to revive the Chautauqua tradition by organizing touring companies and extending grants to interested communities to get the shows off the ground. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Morgan County Historical Society hosted a five-day Heartland Chautauqua under the theme, “Inside the Civil War,” in 1999. It was the first touring company to come to Jacksonville since 1930. In 2002, the same company, sponsored by the humanities councils of Missouri and Illinois, gave Jacksonville a portrayal of “The Jazz Age,” featuring Henry Ford, Edna Ferber, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Bix Beiderbecke, Harry Truman, and Coco Chanel. The Prairieland Chautauquas of 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004 were organized solely by the Morgan County Historical Society and financed partially with grants from the Illinois Humanities Council and partially by generous local donors. Aside from Jacksonville, no other community in Illinois is presently offering an annual five-day Chautauqua. For the past six years, Morgan County’s Chautauqua under the big 40 ft. by 80 ft. tent has attracted an average annual audience of 2,000, including increasing numbers of visitors from outside the county and the state. The humanities councils want Chautauquas to be offered to the public as an educational service free of charge. That, however, places a heavy fund-raising burden on the organizers. Professional and semiprofessional re-enactors of historical personalities command honoraria from $500 up to several thousand dollars, depending upon demand. Weeklong tent rentals run over $2,000, sound and lighting experts cost at least $1,500. Given the traditional American reliance upon private enterprise and private philanthropy, largely government-financed agencies, such as the humanities and arts councils, cannot be expected to provide more than seed money for continuing cultural projects. Hence, sound and reliable funding will have to be found if the Chautauqua is to be a returning feature of the community’s calendar of events. If you wonder whether the Prairieland Chautauqua is worth the effort and money spent on it, consider what it will offer again in its seventh season from Thursday, September 1 to Monday, September 5: eight portrayals of historical personalities: Julian Sturtevant, Catharine Beecher, Owen Lovejoy, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jonathan Baldwin Turner, Stephen Douglas, William Jennings Bryan, and Abraham Lincoln; three colloquia focusing on Edward Beecher, Joe Patterson Smith, and co-education at Illinois College; Ken Bradbury’s play “Ring the Bell;” nine concerts featuring The Brad Floreth Quartet, Stephanie Smith-Wilkey, the Prairie Grass Ensemble, the Crimson Strings, Diane Dietz, Garrett Allman, Rudolf Zuiderveld, Ann Marie Stahel, the Trio con Brio led by pianist Lenora Suppan-Gehrich of Quincy University, and the piano duo of Ken Bradbury and David Zink. Who could ask for anything more?

Wolf D. Fuhrig

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08-28-05

“The Most American Thing”