Chautauqua (nonfiction)

Chautauqua Association Incorporated, Fourth annual season, Wanganui February 7th to 10th, 1922.

Chautauqua (/ʃəˈtɔːkwə/ shə-taw-kwə) describes an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Named after Chautauqua Lake, in Western New York where the first was held, Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s.

A Chautauqua Assembly brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day.

Former US President Theodore Roosevelt was quoted as saying that Chautauqua is "the most American thing in America".

Historic buildings associated with the movement include Chautauqua Amphitheater (Chautauqua, New York), Chautauqua Auditorium (Shelbyville, Illinois), Chautauqua Auditorium (Boulder, Colorado), and Chautauqua Hall of Brotherhood in DeFuniak Springs, Florida.

In the News

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  Cover of a brochure for a 1917 Chautauqua in Cass Lake, Minnesota.

Nonfiction cross-reference

External links:

• Chatauqua @ Wikipedia