The Chautauqua Movement and women suffrage in the 19th century. Evolved fromhow it avoiding speakers in the earlier days to regularly including prosuffrage talks and spread to kansas in new york. The dwight d. Eisenhower library and museum hosted this event and provided the video. I would like to welcome our speaker so that we can learn more about the Chautauqua Movement. I will let her tell you about herself. Thank you for being here with us today. Ms. Bell thank you for having me. I was talking to dawn and samantha a couple of days ago and saying that i would have preferred and loved to have been there in person, and really looking forward to the day when i can visit and see the newly renovated museum. Until then, very thankful for technology that allows us to gather together today. I have lost the presentation. So i dont know if youre able to share the there it is. Great. Thank you. Presentation is based on some research that i did for my dissertation. Last may, which seems very long ago, i received my phd in history from ku. I still live in lawrence and work in lawrence at the Watkins Museum of history. I joined the Humanities Kansas Speakers Bureau in 2018. The presentation that i give is this one, although it, in recognition of the 19th amendment, i make sure to focus specifically on womens suffrage. That is a very relevant topic this year. The presentation i will give today is a summary that looks at the Chautauqua Movement. So i get to share a lot more about it today with its connection to womens suffrage for my research i looked at assembly sydni york, kansas and colorado and could visit the archives and all of those states and visit the library of congress. My Research Question was prompted by a source that i found early on. Susan b. Anthony and howard shot showed up and spoke to the 1892 and returned in 1894. I was so intrigued by this because the little that i didnt know about the chautauqua, the fact that it was this really religious, respectable type of assembly, and knowing how radical women suffrage is at that time, particularly in the 19th century , i wonder how did two prominent suffrage leaders speak at a small town in the 1890s. My presentation today will be the answer to that question. I will take you from 1874 when the chautauqua began in western new york state to the first decade of the 20th century when suffrage became a regular topic on the program. Most of my presentation focuses on examples from kansas. This is for a few reasons. First, i really enjoy sharing the history of the date of people who live here. Have heard who may this already, i am not a native kansan. I have lived here and have really grown to love and appreciate those states. Thisis because kansas has really unique and interesting history of social reform. What i found is that women were in the heart of them. I will walk you through the timeline of two major movements. The should talk what an womens suffrage the chautauqua and women suffrage. I will show you why it i am bringing these two movements together in conversation and the significance of why these two movements are an act did. I have a lot of great photos that will be illustrating my points and most are from the Franklin CountyHistorical Society in ottawa while others are from the kansas journal society. . Hat is chautauqua it began in 1874 in western new york state. I have it highlighted on this map in red and that store that star is a rough approximation of where it started and still continues today. John vincent and lewis miller. They modeled it after the there had been so popular within the Methodist Church just a couple of decades before. About the second awakening and made to 40s, 1860s time and what was called the burn our district included in new york. This is what they had in mind. They did not want their chautauqua to be as even till a stick or sensational evangelical or sensational. Mainly just being in nature and worshiping outdoors. Im often asked how to talk about its name. Hasasked if the chautauqua something to do with native americans . The name does. Chautauqua was a tribe of native americans that lived in that region of new york. That has thate name. Chautauqua has a native american origin, but nothing else after that had it had any connections. Chautauquad their and intended it to be a place to train sunday School Teachers. Who at the time were primarily women. But the coupled education with a legion leisure experience that had a retreat. It was so successful in the first year that it became this annual summer event where visitors would calm and camp out in tents for seven to 10 days before it started to grow with a number of the week. They would have discussions and musical performances. As you can see from this image, from 1881, less than 10 years after it was started, it quickly expanded. Its a little hard to tell. On the bottom of that picture it says chautauqua lake. They made good use of its real estate along the lake. But also, the way that its built it falls out and looks similar to a city or a town that has a structure. In addition to growing any uart, it spread across the country as well. Successful everyone can make the long journey to new york. These were known as independent or daughter assemblies after the mother chautauqua in uart. They were modeled after the new york program from the same kind of lectures and lecturers that they had come to holding their assembly in the park or a large body of water to emanate that experience. This,aintained a sense of which is how it started. But with its rise in popularity and success, it added secular topics to its programs. Science, current events, arts, literature and activities for children. Many of these independent assemblies were looking to new york and were modeling it directly after, and would invite the same speakers to come to their assemblies. By 1902, as the pictures showed, the movement became so talk became so popular that a journal published by the chautauqua added rooster. But they were estimating there were more than 100 different assemblies across the countries. And one of them was in ottawa, kansas. Chautauquathe First Assembly west of the Mississippi River in bismarck grove. That was in 1878. Surprisingly, a did not last for more than a few years. Grove at its claim to was knowne reason it for being a gathering space was because of its infosys for prohibition or temperance. Waswhat of the founders actually very much an avid prohibitionist. He was very much against alcohol. Have the outdoor space thats known for its connection to temperance prohibition. Shes really interesting that it did not last very long. Some of the reasons wise that there was an indication that perhaps some of the people were not that supportive. He gave people a Successful Assembly. Over inthere it bounced 1882, but it did not make it there for very long because in topeka, despite the fact that kansas, in 1881 passed an amendment to prohibit alcohol. 1882 to peak is still were still drinking alcohol. Landed in ottawa for when youre in 1883. Otherwere several assemblies in kansas, including hasincoln park, but ottawa the longest and most Successful Assembly in the state. It 1896 the population was 6000 people. Assemblies tried to situate themselves within more smalltown communities. This is what they said about themselves that year. Far from that it is large cities to be free from the and to present all the charms of the quiet nest every convenience of metropolitan life. They also called it the ideal delight. City of a city that is cheerfully occupied with pleasant and clove andngs and culture and peace. Its interesting to see that language because it really was trying to be the Perfect Blend living,pastoral type of but also the conveniences of living in the city. Ae photo on the left is picture of the entrance of forest part. Where in ottawa the chautauqua was held. The picture on the right is terrance road. These line of tents are lined up so immediately. Throughout the entire time they put around, people would things on the 10th. Picture that as you are sitting in 90 degree heat. But they kept it lined up neatly. Think about that map in chautauqua in new york where everything is a nice, straight line. In addition to hosting an annual summer gathering, the ottawa chautauqua published a monthly newspaper, which they called the ottawa chautauqua assembly. This photo, which i know is a little hard to read, but i wanted to show it as an example. What it shows is one day of in 1894. Ng the you see in may of 1894, paper i hold out is from temperance day. A visitor could engage in an 8 00ity from 6 30 a. M. To p. M. They could participate in all things. Including prayers, call restraining, listen to a variety of lectures, and attend a teachers conference, which is a pay in a roundtable discussion and enjoy it instrumental music comfort. But it came to an end in 1914, but the new york continues today. As it didle remains 120 years before. I got a chance to visit it three years ago and i like to include this to show the parallel. When i arrived in 2017, i received a huge paper that showed all of the activities that i participated in for the entire week. I couldve done something from sunrise to well after sunset and it had the same structure. Whether lectures, musical concerts, other discussions i can do. I could take tours, i could jam packed my day. But i could also sit and relax and enjoy the beautiful space up there. But its nice to see that the emphasis are in education, music and religion that are still on the agenda is today showing the continuity from the chautauqua. The chautauqua was geared for a really specific group of people and i have shown a couple of people. You will see on the that this is more of a closeup on some of the people who could attend it. This group of people was really protestant white middle class. This is who attended it. Really fundamental class because you could look and see how much it costs to attend. What you could attend just for a day, you can pay . 25 and eight dollars 50 for a 10 day pass. Thats about seven dollars for a day pass and 42 for a season ticket. People could rent a tent for five dollars for the season, which is 140 in todays terms. There was a certain lecturer for performance people. Ive to hear or others would say stay for a week. Chautauqua attracted farmers, teachers and other middleclass professionals who wanted to participate in leisure. There is a reason why they are trying a pact that in because you do not want to be too leisurely. You still wanted to have this idea of self improvement and education. And railroads were key for getting people to the chautauqua. Thats why it was so successful , duringa because ottawa that time of the late 19th and early 20th century was a hub for a lot of railroads. I really like these photos because it shows a closeup of a couple of the tenants. It shows is entire families would come to this should talk what an participate. That was something that i thought was especially unique. Primarily even for women. Women were able to take a break from her household chores and from taking care of their children because the chautauqua provided activities for children and adults. I like the picture on the left because it shows obviously a very big family, but i wonder if they all fit in that one small tent. It seems like it would have been really cramped. The picture on the left is another example of a tent and a. Oman at the chautauqua this is an interesting picture because she is cooking at a stove. That assumes she may have brought with her women did not have to do that. There was a dining hall. So women were able to take a break from doing the cooking and other chores. But if you wanted to you could bring it along. One of the things about the that, while the Educational Program was an important component, the creators really emphasize that it needed to be in ideal it, natural space. Maybe in a park or alongside a lake with a high priority. I have a few examples that i studied and looked at in my dissertation. You can see the tall trees that provide shade, theres water and mountains. A minute to focus on the photos. The bottom left is a photo from the ottawa chautauqua. This is in forest park. There is a river that runs through it. That is the tall trees and the shade. And again, being in Kansas Outdoors in the summer we all know how it can get. The picture on the right is a picture that i took at the new york chautauqua in 2017. And the picture shows that lake. If you look to the right of that photo is where the chautauqua grows from there. ,ut the picture on the top left this is the example i have from colorado, but i love to include it. If you look closely you can see women hiking in those rocks. The prominent mountain structure in bold are in and women with their walking sticks and long skirts hiking up the flat iron. I went to boulder to do some research and i had to hike the flat iron and i kept this photo in my mind of these women hiking up the flat iron in their dresses and i was in my tennis shoes and shorts, and i had more respect for them. What is really fascinating is ,etween boulder and ottawa ottawa started about 15 years before the boulder chautauqua. Ottawa said it was the best chautauqua in the west. But when boulder showed up 15 years later, it was saying it was the greatest in the west. I kind of joke about, i think boulder ended up winning because it is still going on today, and also is hard to be mountains when you are talking about the west. Ottawa had other issues about why it had to close down, but i won. Boulder wave ofs a second but theret assembly, was a third in ration of chautauqua they came into prominence around 1905 through the 1920s, called the circuit chautauqua. If people know about chautauqua, they are often familiar with the third iteration. This is where, unlike having to visit a chautauqua like in new york or ottawa or so forth, it would come to you. Similar to a circus during this time. Andact, the chautauqua circus were going on and sometimes at the same time in the same town. They took a turn to more entertainment based topics like theater, minstrel shows and what became more sensational entertainment focus. Compete witht other forms of entertainment starting to emerge like radio, movies and the automobile, which gave people more freedom. The and my overview about chautauqua shifts more into talking about women and the chautauqua specifically. I mentioned that women were the primary audience from the beginning, the sunday School Teachers that wanted to educate. But one of the founders, a methodist minister, while he allowed women to be in the audience, to listen to things, he did not want them to actually be lecturing to an audience. This is really because of something known as a suffrage ideology at the time. You could also label it as gender roles. The idea, especially for the white middleclass, that women needed to stay and maintain the home and that was their domain. Men were taking care of public activities, and that included speaking in public. Was raisede john who in and taught in the Methodist Church, bought that belief. The church and the society at , they were explaining to women that this is your role in society. While he was progressive enough to educate women, he had limits about what that looked like. Ban of women speakers did not last long. Firsts willard was the women to speak at the chautauqua. She was known for her leadership with the womens christian temperance union. The largest one of and most influential womens reform groups in the u. S. During the 19th century. They got their start out of the group that first year in 1874 at chautauqua. Andt of women came together were talking to each other about the importance of trying to figure out if they could get all of their small temperance organizations within their towns or states, if they could somehow get it to be a National Organization and a national movement. That fall, they did that very thing, and the wctu had its start. They emphasize home protection. They are justifying that their participation in politics and in public was really because they were trying to protect the domestic sphere, the home. And because of this connection, and something to think about during this time is where the argument was coming from. Temperance and concerns about alcohol have been around decades prior to the 1870s, and it was something both men and women were concerned about, by the 1870s, this is postcivil war, a lot of men who had just gone through this horrific war, and alcohol it is not just that they were drinking beer with a alcohol content, hard liquor was becoming more popular. These men were spending more time in saloons, drinking more alcohol and harder liquor, and they were possibly drinking away some salaries and income viewed they were coming home and beating their wives and children, and women who had so little protection and were reliant on men, knew they had to do something. They had this moral authority when it came to the issue of temperance. Temperance became associated with women and protecting the home. Simpson,e like john who was reluctant to have women speakers, still recognize the moral Authority Women had, and Frances Willard used her connection to temperance as an entry onto the chautauqua platform. She was the first woman to speak but not the last. , music, andbout art women lead topics, but no suffrage. It is interesting, the women who attended the new york chautauqua were becoming frustrated with john vincent. Here is this man who supported education for women. And other women speakers, why could he not give space for talking about womens suffrage . Sources i used to understand this was from the , there was a source called womens journal. It is a suffrage journal out of austin, and i looked at between 1876 and 1917, and i looked to see, how do they talk about the chautauqua . When i saw during this time is the frustration coming in with letters to the editor, articles written i some of the editors of the journal talking about the chautauqua and vincent and his reluctance to support suffrage. To fully understand the reluctance, it is important to remember that women suffrage, as i mentioned in the beginning, was considered a radical topic at this time, especially in the late 19th century. According to the separate spheres ideology for men and women, allah takes was the realm of men. Politics was the realm of men. Was more like the wctu acceptable because they were entering the public severe to one, thate domestic suffrage pus