In the 1870s the United States was recovering from the scars of the Civil War and was in the midst of great industrial growth. As a result, the middle class had been steadily growing. Through the Lyceum Movement of the 1830s to 1860s, Americans had begun to see the importance of education for all. Up until then education beyond the elementary grades was only available to the wealthy. At one point there were over 3,000 lyceums across the country offering free lectures on subjects from geology to history to philosophy to education. The lyceum movement died with the start of the Civil War but in 1874 John Heyl Vincent, a Methodist circuit preacher and Sunday school agent, and Lewis Miller, a wealthy teacher and inventor, took up its banner and began the Chautauqua Movement on the shores of Lake Chautauqua in New York State.
Vincent and Miller began the Chautauqua Institution as a summer school for Sunday school teachers. At the time Sunday school was a time of instruction for children who worked six days a week. It was taught on Sundays for 4-5 hours by public school teachers. Vincent and Miller saw a need for the professionalization of teaching. Although religious teaching was a part of the curriculum, their intent was educational, not revivalist. A few years later the Chautauqua Institution broadened to include adult education in all areas, including a correspondence course. Thousands of people traveled there every summer to attend classes, concerts, and social activities.
As the Institution’s members and graduates began spreading its ideas, towns and cities across the nation began establishing their own chautauquas, starting what would become known as the circuit chautauqua. One such town was Gainesville. Starting in 1903 the city hosted a two-week chautauqua meeting. In 1906 it began meeting in the Florida Winter Bible Conference Tabernacle, which was located on the site where the Matheson History Museum currently resides.
The Tabernacle with Sweetwater Branch running along the right side. Postcard courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection.
Interior of the Tabernacle, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection
Begun by Reverend Clarence B. Strouse, the yearly Chautauqua offered a variety of lectures, “dramatic readers, musical quartets, singers, magicians, programs of slides, and even horse shows” (Hildreth and Cox, 1981). One of the lecturers was Reverend Sam Jones, a revivalist Methodist minister, who was quoted in the Pensacola Journal as saying,
“I was two days at Gainesville, Fla., Chautauqua. Gainesville is having a phenomenal growth at this time. […] The saloons have been driven out, the moral atmosphere purified and Gainesville realizes she can grow in leaps and bounds without the traffic of liquor in her midst. […] They are now discussing the paving of the streets. The national government has placed its machinery and its experts at the command of the county, and they are now building one mile of good road,” (Pensacola Journal, 3/11/1905).
Pages from the 1911 program, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection
Program for the 1930 chautauqua, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection
The movement began to die out in the 1930s as higher education for women became more accessible and the influence of radio, movies, and the car culture began to rise. Today the Chautauqua Institution still meets every summer on the shores of Lake Chautauqua and the movement’s influence can still be felt in Gainesville with its legacy of supporting public and higher education for everyone.
prguitarman
germansingergirl
discoholicmusic
2087
jimmyeatworldofficial
