Chautauqua Movement
Chautauqua Movement, a pioneer program of popular education for adults. It was named for Chautauqua Lake in the southwestern part of New York, where the movement began in 1874 as the Sunday School Assembly. The chief organizers were John Heyl Vincent, a Methodist clergyman, and Lewis Miller, a layman interested in Sunday school work.
The original intention of the movement had been to train Sunday school teachers in a summer camp, but an ambitious program of general education eventually developed. A permanent village named Chautauqua grew around the camp site, and educators, public leaders, and entertainers appeared during the sessions.
In 1878 the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle was founded to conduct a four-year home study course in history, art, literature, science, and other subjects. Chautauqua University (1883) and the School of Theology (1881) granted degrees for work done at the camp site and by correspondence. By 1902, when Chautauqua Institution was incorporated, activities had been narrowed to the summer sessions. These sessions are still conducted, offering recitals, concerts, plays, workshops, and lectures and, through cooperating educational institutions, high school and college courses for credit. The location, designated the Chautauqua Institution Historic District, is a National Historic Landmark.
Many local assemblies patterned after the Chautauqua Institution flourished until the early years of the 20th century. The traveling Chautauqua, usually housed in a big tent, offered culture and entertainment to many small communities in the United States and Canada until about 1935.