| Chautauqua:
A Chronology - Part II Many of you took the opportunity to join us in February for the Winter Chautauqua hosted by NWOSU– "Love and War," a look at the Civil War period through the eyes of Harriet Beacher Stowe and General William Tecumsah Sheridan. On June 1st through the 5th, you’ll have another chance to step back in time as the City of Enid and the Chautauqua Council of Enid, Inc. transport you back to the heyday of "Route 66." With the help of your local Edward Jones investment brokers, the Oklahoma Foundation for the Humanities, the Enid CVB, and other sponsors, you’ll be able to hear and speak with some of the most important personages in Western America and Oklahoma during the days before Interstates when travelers sampled the culture and wares of the cities and towns through which they passed as they headed East or West along this famous highway. Hopefully we’ve whetted your appetite just a little. Now let me tell you a bit more about this phenomenom known as "Chautauqua." Many think the tent Chautauquas started in the institution bearing that name which opened on the shores of Lake Chautauqua in 1874. While it remains one of the most active and diverse cultural centers in America, it was not the catalyst for the development of the traveling tent shows that presaged our own modern Chautauqua events. The traveling shows started as a way to provide rural America with programs similar to those being offered in Chicago’s Red Path Lyceum and other comparable facilities in cities of similar size.
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| The lyceum movement thrived during the latter part of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. It was pioneered by James Redpath, an antislavery activist who traveled throughout the South, interviewing slaves and reporting their comments in the New York Tribune. Redpath began booking acts for the lyceums and soon was booking the most famous speakers on the lecture circuit. When Redpath retired in 1875 and turned his program over to two former employees, the movement began to lose its vitality. Enter Keith Vawter who bought a one-third interest in the company and acquried and operated the Chicago branch of the Redpath Lyceum. Vawter knew the larger cities could support the lyceum programs, but worried that smaller rural towns could not. He wanted a way to bring this mixture of culture, entertainment, politics and education to the rest of America. Hence, the creation of the traveling tent roadshows. Why Keith Vawter chose to call his infant program "Chautauqua" is uncertain. It probably grew out of his respect for the programs offered at the Chautauqua institution in New York State. It probably wasn’t because of the meaning of the word itself. "Chautauqua is a Seneca Indian word with numerous meanings ascribed to it, including "child," "a bag tied in the middle," "two moccasins tied together," "a place where fish are taken out," a "foggy place," "flying fish, " "the place of easy death," and even "the place where one was lost." The only meaning that might apply is the first, since Vawter was the "father" of the traveling tent chautauquas. Oklahoma was a relative latecomer to the Chautauqua movement. Although the tent Chautauquas were begun in 1904, it wasn’t until 1913 or 1914 that Chautauqua arrived in Oklahoma. It was part of the traveling tent show known as the Red Path-Horner Chautauqua, which was headquartered in Kansas City. Next installment we’ll tell you more about this expansion westward.
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