Endowments; Chautauquas; Adult education; Houston (Tex.); South Texas Chautauqua Association; Himrod, James Lattimore
Format
correspondence
Genre
Business correspondence
Origin Information
1886
Physical Description
microfilm, 16 mm, b&w
digitized microfilm
Note (Reel no.)
Reel 81
Note
PDF may contain multiple grant documents.
James Lattimore Himrod
James Lattimore Himrod, president of the South Texas Chautauqua Association of Houston, Texas, is in New York for a few weeks, stopping at the Hotel Knickerbocker." [SOURCE: "Himrod in New York." Musical Courier, vol. 74, no. 4, 25 Jan. 1917, pp. 17. Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?id=x-w6AQAAMAAJ. Accessed 15 Oct. 2018.] "South Texas Chatauqua Association (Incorporated) 220 Binz Building Houston, Texas... Dear Friend: I am writing you just a few lines to let you know what we have done toward getting ready for our 1917 season. We have definitely decided to go to Kemah, just across the Channel from Seabrook, on Trinity Bay, midway between Houston and Galveston... We have been delayed somewhat in getting the deeds for this property, but have already secured the deeds for fifteen acres on the shore and expect to get twenty-two more. These deeds are conditional upon our holding an assembly there each year for five years. We must build a hotel of, at least, 200 rooms and an auditorium, to seat, not less than, 4500 people... In addition to this, we plan a library and art gallery combined and a music hall to be named in honor of Mme. Johanna Gadski, the famous dramatic soprano, who, with her friends, will finance the building of the hall... There are about fifteen acres across in this piece of ground. It is known as 'the Bradford picnicking Grounds', and with a very little expenditure can be made one of the most delightful spots on the whole Southern Coast... Early in this month, we intend to launch a membership campaign in both Houston and Galveston. At that time we will give the whole movement a great deal of publicity, until such time, kindly consider this letter as semi-confidential, as we are advancing to secure options on some of the adjoining lands at Kemah, and a newspaper campaign would make that very difficult for us... We have incorporated and have received a very liberal charter from the State. Our dates for 1917 are June 18 to July 8th. This will include a School of Missions, June 19th to 24th... At an early date, we expect to have a meeting of the Advisory Council, and want all present, if possible, as at that time, we shall definitely outline our program for 1917, and shall discuss the financial and of the proposition in a very definite way, until then, kindly tell all inquirers that we are making splendid progress and that we are more than satisfied with results thus far..." [SOURCE: Himrod, James Lattimore. Letter from James Lattimore Himrod to Minnie Fisher Cunningham. 4 Jan. 1917. Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries. University of Houston Digital Library, https://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/p15195coll33/item/1335/show/1334. Accessed 15 Oct. 2018.] "Minnie Fisher Cunningham (March 19, 1882 – December 9, 1964) was the first executive secretary of the League of Women Voters, and a suffrage politician who worked for the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution giving women the vote. A political worker with liberal views, she became one of the founding members of the Woman's National Democratic Club. In her position overseeing the club's finances, she helped the organization purchase of its Washington, D.C. headquarters, which is still in use." [SOURCE: "Minnie Fisher Cunningham." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnie_Fisher_Cunningham. Accessed 15 Oct. 2018.] "Chautauqua (/ʃəˈtɔːkwə/ shə-TAW-kwə) was an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers, and specialists of the day. Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was quoted as saying that Chautauqua is 'the most American thing in America'... The first Chautauqua, the New York Chautauqua Assembly, was organized in 1874 by Methodist minister John Heyl Vincent and businessman Lewis Miller at a campsite on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in New York State. Two years earlier, Vincent, editor of the Sunday School Journal, had begun to train Sunday school teachers in an outdoor summer school format. The gatherings grew in popularity. The organization founded by Vincent and Miller later became known as the Chautauqua Institution. It was called the Mother Chautauqua, because many independent, or 'daughter' Chautauquas were developed under the same fashion. The educational summer camp format proved to be a popular choice for families and was widely copied by the 'daughter' Chautauquas. Within a decade, Chautauqua assemblies (or simply Chautauquas), named for the original location in New York State, sprang up in various locations across North America. The Chautauqua movement may be regarded as a successor to the Lyceum movement earlier in the 19th century. As the Chautauqua assemblies began to compete for the best performers and lecturers, lyceum bureaus assisted with bookings... Independent Chautauquas (or 'daughter Chautauquas') operated at permanent facilities, usually fashioned after the Chautauqua Institute in New York, or at rented venues such as in an amusement park. Such a Chautauqua was generally built in an attractive semi-rural location a short distance outside an established town with good rail service. At the height of the Chautauqua movement in the 1920s, several hundred of these existed, but their numbers have since dwindled... Christian instruction, preaching, and worship were a strong part of the Chautauqua experience... Early religious expression in Chautauqua was usually of a general nature, comparable to the later Moral Re-Armament movement. Later on, in the first half of the 20th century, Fundamentalism was the content of an increasing number of Chautauqua sermons and lectures. However, the great number of Chautauquas, as well as the absence of any central authority over them, meant that religious patterns varied greatly among the different Chautauquas. Some were so religiously oriented that they were essentially church camps, while more secular Chautauquas resembled summer school and competed with vaudeville in theaters and circus tent shows with their animal acts and trapeze acrobats. People involved in the Chautauqua movement believed that both secular and spiritual knowledge radiate from God and are both equally important... Lectures were the mainstay of the Chautauqua. Prior to 1917, lectures dominated the circuit Chautauqua programs. The reform speech and the inspirational talk were the two main types of lecture until 1913. Later topics included current events, travel and stories, often with a comedic twist... Music was important to Chautauqua, with band music in particular demand... Opera became a part of the Chautauqua experience in 1926 when the American Opera Company, an outgrowth of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, began touring the country...By 1929, a permanent Chautauqua Opera company had been established... Chautauquas can be viewed in the context of the populist ferment of the late 19th century. Manifestos such as the 'Populist Party Platform' voiced a disdain for political corruption and championed the plight of the common people in the face of the rich and powerful. Other favorite political reform topics in Chautauqua lectures included temperance (even prohibition), women's suffrage, and child labor laws..." [SOURCE: "Chautauqua." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua. Accessed 15 Oct. 2018.]
Language
English
Library Location
Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University