CHAUTAUQUA MOVEMENT

popular U.S. movement in adult education that flourished during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original Chautauqua began after the Civil War as an assembly for the training of Sunday school teachers and church workers at Chautauqua Lake in New York state. At first entirely religious in nature, the program was gradually broadened to include general education and popular entertainments. In later years the summer lectures and classes were supplemented by a program of directed home reading and correspondence study. William Rainey Harper, later president of the University of Chicago, became educational director in 1883 and attracted outstanding speakers. By 1900 the Chautauqua assembly included a school of theology, a correspondence school, and a publishing house. The success of the Chautauqua, N.Y., assembly led to the founding of many chautauquas throughout the United States patterned after the original institution. By 1900 there were more than 400 such local assemblies and numerous booking agents had entered the field, supplying the lecturers and musicians who travelled from one community to another. After their peak year (1924), however, the circuit chautauquas began to decline, but the original institution at Chautauqua remained in existence, offering a diversified program that included symphony concerts, operas, plays, university summer school courses, and lectures. See also lyceum movement.