Modern-day Chautauqua programs present a variety of historical enactments, workshops, and informal discussions. Evening performances include first-person presentations and time for audience questions to the historical figure in-character and to the scholar portraying the character. Ten daytime workshops and five evening lectures explore the cultural and political nuances of the era. The events are all free of charge, and are targeted to audiences of all ages, cultures, and socio-economic demographics.
The first Chautauqua Assembly took place on July 1, 1874, and was located on Chautauqua Lake near Jamestown, New York. John Heyl Vincent (1832-1920), secretary of the Methodist Sunday School (and later bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church) and Lewis Miller (1829-1899), an Akron, Ohio businessman, were the two founders. The Chautauqua Assemblies, which began as summer camp meetings, were held under the sanction and direction of the governing Sunday School Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
It didn’t take long for an eight-week educational camp to become popular. Within a decade, the Chautauqua assemblies (or Chautauquas, for short) sprang up all over the United States, bringing learning, culture and entertainment to small towns and villages. Over the years, the range of subjects at the Chautauqua grew. Prominent personalities were paid to give speeches on religious, political and scientific topics, such as Samuel Clemens and William Jennings Bryan.
Circuit Chautauquas, also called Tent Chautauquas, began in 1904. The programs were performed in tents for a few days, then folded up and moved to a new location. By the mid-1920s, when circuit Chautauquas were at their peak, they appeared in more than 10,000 communities.
In 1976, Everett Albers, Executive Director of the North Dakota Humanities Council, launched the modern Chautauqua in America. It was expanded from the original traveling tent with one-person presentations to a group of five scholars who present historical characters in a first-person dramatic performance. Each scholar performs one evening presentation in character and two daytime workshops from the scholar’s own perspective. This was the start of a new movement, resolving the dilemma that faced many humanities organizations: how to make it possible for scholars to interact with the public in an open and accessible forum.
By 1980 the Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota humanities councils joined with the North Dakota Humanities Council to form the Great Plains Chautauqua Society. A century after the original circuit began, Chautauqua scholars were once again touring, this time presenting characters from the past organized around a central theme. Starting in 1991, the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa and the Oklahoma Humanities Council united to present Chautauquas in Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma Chautauqua returned to Lawton in June 2008. By 2012, the Lawton Chautauqua Committee decided to bring the evening performances inside because of the extreme hot weather. The City Hall auditorium was decided on as a perfect venue.
In 2022, Lawton Chautaqua moved to the Albert Johnson, Sr. Conference Center to showcase this newly renovated venue.
For more information, contact Friends of the Lawton Public Library, 580-581-3450, libraryhelp@lawtonok.gov; libraryevents@lawtonok.gov, https://www.lawtonok.gov/departments/library/events-classes/chautauqua
Funding for Oklahoma Chautauqua is provided in part by a grant from Oklahoma Humanities (OH) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Funding for Lawton Chautauqua is provided by the City of Lawton Arts & Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the acknowledged grantors.
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