THE FIRST CHAUTAUQUA was started as an outdoor adult education program for Sunday School teachers at a campsite on Chautauqua Lake in upstate New York founded by Methodist minister John Heyl Vincent and businessman Lewis Miller. The outdoor setting enabled the merging of family entertainment and recreation into an education program.

Similar Chautauqua assemblies sprung up in various locations in North America. These Chautauquas became the successor of the Lyceum movement. The organization founded by Vincent and Miller later became known as the Chautauqua Institution which is a permanent summer cultural resort that can be attended today. At least three independent Chautauquas have operated continuously since 1920's.

Link to Wikipedia

Link to Chautauqua Institution

TENT CHAUTAUQUAS (Circuit Chautauquas) From 1904 - 1932, before radio and television, traveling cultural tent shows toured across America. It was a road show of music, entertainment, and always a great speaker of the day. Touring by train and car, it was the most exciting event of the summer across America and Canada. At their peak, tent Chautauquas appeared in over 10,000 communities to more than 45 million. Caught by the Great Depression of the 1930's, the tent Chautauqua disappeared, replaced by radio and movies. A tent Chautauqua regularly came to Greenville, SC and set up its distinctive brown tents in City Park (now McPherson Park).

Link to Redpath Chautauqua

MODERN CHAUTAUQUA

In the 1970's Chautauqua was revived and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and state humanities councils as a means of providing lively, interactive and authentic humanities education. Local communities recreate the magic of the Chautauqua tent and present humanities scholars in first person performances of historic characters often in an out-door setting that creates a free and open forum for the public.


CHAUTAUQUA IN THE CAROLINAS

George Frein, PhD, a founding member of the National Chautauqua Tour, brought Chautauqua back to Greenville. The next year, Buncombe County Chautauqua in cooperation with Greenville Chautauqua, began presenting a festival in Asheville, NC. It has since become a popular tradition in both communities.