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The Rise and Decline of the Chautauqua Movement and Its Lessons

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The Rise and Decline of the Chautauqua Movement and Its Lessons THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE CHAUTAUQUA MOVEMENT AND ITS LESSONS FOR 21ST CENTURY CIVIC ADULT EDUCATION by Ferki Ferati Bachelor of Arts, Mercyhurst University, 2007 Master of Public Administration, Gannon University, 2012 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education University of Pittsburgh 2017 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF EDUCATION This dissertation was presented by Ferki Ferati It was defended on May 2017 and approved by William P. Garvey, Ph.D., President, The Jefferson Educational Society of Erie John C. Weidman, Ph.D., Professor, Higher and International Development Education, University of Pittsburgh Thesis Director/Dissertation Advisor: Maureen W. McClure, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Administrative and Policy Studies, University of Pittsburgh ii Copyright © by Ferki Ferati 2017 iii THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE CHAUTAUQUA MOVEMENT AND ITS LESSONS FOR 21ST CENTURY CIVIC ADULT EDUCATION Ferki Ferati, Ed.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2017 This study focuses on mass civic adult education reform. It inquires how lessons learned from the Chautauqua Movement, a movement that was funded through philanthropy and exploded throughout the United States and Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, can be applied to popular civic adult education reform today. At its peak, the Chautauqua Movement engaged more than 50 million people annually (or almost 50% of the total population at the time1), playing a major role in building shared values among Protestant dominations, and kept adults without access to formal education informed. With the Chautauqua Movement’s contraction, a void in mass civic adult education was never filled. The aim of this inquiry is threefold. First, it aims to understand the tenets of the Chautauqua movement and how this movement became so popular among adults. Second, it seeks to understand why the Chautauqua Movement declined. Third, this inquiry discusses lessons of the Chautauqua Movement for twenty-first century civic adult education. The approach of this inquiry is a historical case study and uses archives, mapping, and interviews for a mixed methods view of this very complex phenomenon in American history. 1 US population in 1921 was 108.5 Million (Demographia, 2017) iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................................... IX 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 APPROACH, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK, METHODOLOGY ......... 4 1.1.1 Design of the Methodology.............................................................................. 6 1.1.1.1 Archival Work ....................................................................................... 6 1.1.1.2 Mapping / Cartography ........................................................................ 7 1.1.1.3 Semi-Structured Interviews ................................................................. 7 1.1.2 Analysis ............................................................................................................. 8 1.2 LIMITATIONS .................................................................................................... 9 2.0 THE RISE ................................................................................................................... 11 2.1 THE VISION OF J.H. VINCENT AND ATTORNEY LEWIS MILLER ... 13 2.2 THE CHAUTAUQUA LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC CIRCLE (CLSC) 17 2.3 FILLING THE EDUCATIONAL GAP........................................................... 20 2.4 THE MOVEMENT OF PATRONS ................................................................. 24 2.5 THE MOVEMENT OF IDEAS ........................................................................ 29 2.6 OTHER CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THE GROWTH OF THE CHAUTAUQUA MOVEMENT ........................................................................................ 33 2.6.1 The Railroads ................................................................................................. 33 v 2.6.2 Chautauqua Circuits ..................................................................................... 34 2.6.3 Family Leisure ............................................................................................... 35 3.0 THE DECLINE .......................................................................................................... 37 3.1 FINANCIAL PROBLEMS ............................................................................... 38 3.2 DIVERSITY PROBLEM .................................................................................. 42 3.3 “TOO MUCH ENTERTAINMENT NOT ENOUGH EDUCATION” - CHAUTAUQUA CIRCUITS PROBLEM ....................................................................... 45 3.4 THE CAR, MOTION PICTURES, AND RADIO .......................................... 47 4.0 LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 21ST CENTURY CIVIC ADULT EDUCATION .............................................................................................................................. 49 4.1 NEW IDEAS SHOULD BE EXPLORED ....................................................... 50 4.2 CIVIC ADULT EDUCATION MUST BE OPEN TO EVERYONE ............ 51 4.3 PROGRAMMING MUST BE AFFORDABLE ............................................. 52 4.3.1 Governmental Sponsorship .......................................................................... 52 4.3.2 Membership Driven Civic Adult Education ............................................... 53 4.4 QUALITY CONTROL SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED.............................. 54 4.4.1 Certification Program ................................................................................... 54 4.4.2 Centralized Headquarters ............................................................................ 55 4.4.3 The McDonaldization of Civic Adult Education ........................................ 55 5.0 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 56 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 57 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Comprehensive View of Adult Education (Summary from: Knowles, Holton III, & Swanson, 2005; Watkins and Marsick, 1993; Carteret, 2008 and others) ...................................... 3 Table 2. Eight Propositions and Three Major Beliefs of the Chautauqua Movement .................. 15 Table 3. Chautauquas and The Patrons In Charge ........................................................................ 25 Table 4. Number of Daughter Chautauquas by State and Years of Existence ............................. 40 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Chautauqua Institution Official Archives ........................................................................ 6 Figure 2. Google Maps Example .................................................................................................... 7 Figure 3. CLSC Curriculum Taken from Chautauqua Institution (2014) ..................................... 17 Figure 4. Google Maps showing Chautauquas (Blue are past, red indicate existing in 2017, and red building indicates original Chautauqua) ................................................................................. 22 Figure 5. Chautauqua Distributions across Regions of United States .......................................... 23 Figure 6. 1898 Texas Colorado Chautauqua First Season Brochure ............................................ 29 Figure 7. Chautauqua Gathering as shown in The New York Times (1914) showing a large number of women in attendance ................................................................................................... 31 Figure 8. Catholics as Percentage of Total Population and Church and Adherents, 1850-1926 (Finke and Stark, 2005 p. 122)...................................................................................................... 43 viii PREFACE My interest in the field of civic adult education came about while working at the Jefferson Educational Society in Erie, Pennsylvania. The Jefferson Educational Society (JES) today closely emulates Chautauqua. The JES is a nonprofit adult education institution. Founded in 2008, the JES has been modeled after the Chautauqua Institution (which is still active) and two other successful adult education programs: the nationally renowned think tank Brookings Institution because of it research activities, and the 92nd Street Y because of its educational programing. The Jefferson Society offers more than 100 programs per year, publishes books and essays, and serves as a civic engagement platform for its community (Ferati, 2017). (Upon the completion of this study, in June of 2017, I will assume the role of President of the JES.) In 2014, the Jefferson Educational Society completed its first strategic plan with major success. The next strategic plan was designed to further the JES mission in a more informed, scholarly manner. At that point, I was also ready to take my educational attainment to the next level. The Social and Comparative Analysis in Education (SCAE) doctoral program at the University of Pittsburgh met both my and the JES’ goals. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the Jefferson Educational Society and its Board of Trustees, chaired by the Hon. Joyce S. Savocchio, for not only sponsoring my tenure but also
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