Circuit Chautauqua theatrical performers : eight interviews

Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-258)During the summer months from 1904 to 1932, traveling\ud educational and entertainment programs known as circuit\ud Chautauqua were presented in rural communities throughout\ud the United States. The Chautauqua program stayed in one\ud community anywhere from five to nine days. Chautauqua\ud tents and equipment moved every week to a new community\ud along the circuit route. The lecturers and entertainers\ud on the program followed a grueling itinerary traveling to\ud a new town each day. Circuit Chautauqua was an extension\ud of the winter Lyceum movement, an adult educational program\ud of lectures and debates which began in England and\ud later spread to the United States. The ideals for the\ud traveling Chautauqua were extensions of a summer family\ud educational and cultural program first established in\ud 1874 by Methodist Bishop John Vincent and agricultural\ud inventor Lewis Miller on the shores of Lake Chautauqua,\ud New York. (See more in text