The History of Chautauqua

Once upon a time, there existed a way of coming together as a community that combined the entertainment of vaudeville, the inspired education of the Lyceum lectures, the sociability of a county fair, and the home grown feeling that could only be found in rural environments. Hardly a fairy tale, these gatherings were known as Chautauquas and in the late 19th century on into the 1920’s, this was a wildly popular phenomenon found throughout the United States.

Held in great round tents and sometimes permanent buildings, Chautauquas began as community produced events. The first one happened in 1879 in Lake Chautauqua, New York and was initially a summer school program for Sunday school teachers. It quickly took on secular aspects while maintaining religious instruction and services. Entertainment and populist lectures quickly became part of the multi-day program, setting the tone for what was to come.

Within a few years, nearby communities were putting together their own programs, borrowing program components from each other. As the turn of the century approached, Chautauquas had spread throughout the greater northeast United States and by 1910 summer encampments could be found as far away as Ashland, Oregon, home to the Southern Oregon Chautauqua. As the phenomenon took off and spread, the range of content within a given Chautauqua grew proportionately: lectures, vaudeville, music, drama, and even opera.

As Chautauquas spread across the land, locally produced events were replaced by Chautauqua production companies, the largest of which was the Redpath Chautauqua. While the sense of local production was lost in these traveling shows, they allowed for more popular, nationally known performers and speakers to appear more in a greater number of communities than if they had handled their booking themselves

With the onset of the Great Depression, the introduction of radio, and the escalating costs introduced by commercialization, the Chautauquas faded away. Beginning in the 1970’s there has been a revival of the spirit of the Chautauqua. While nowhere near as ambitious as the multi-day encampments that would bring hundreds of people together, these modern descendents nonetheless aim to awaken a sense of what is most positive about American, rural culture. Whether it be an evening medley of historical characterizations from a key moment in American history to the vaudeville and community building of the New Old Time Chautauqua, the celebration of community, enlightenment and the arts that was the hallmark of the early Chautauquas lives in a myriad of forms.