Simpson, Jeffrey. Chautauqua: An American Utopia. New York: Abrams Books, 1999.
I have visited Chautauqua four times, and it is one of the most-serene, intellectually stimulating places I have ever been. Jeffrey Simpson’s book provides a comprehensive picture of Chautauqua’s origins and the changes it experienced over the decades that made it what it is today. Photographs from Chautauqua’s recent and distant past help the reader understand the different roles it has played in American society and the kind of people who have been “Chautauquans.”
According to Simpson, Chautauqua’s history can be divided into four sections. The first, from its founding in 1874 to 1925, receives more attention than the other three. That’s not necessarily bad, since those first 50 years were in many ways more interesting than the following years. Simpson explains Chautauqua’s founders –clergyman John Heyl Vincent and industrialist Lewis Miller — began their “utopia” as a center for preparing and developing Sunday School teachers. The first training session lasted two weeks in August 1874 and brought 10,000 people to what was then called the Fair Point Sunday School Assembly. Four years later, however, Vincent moved the Assembly outside the realm of Sunday School preparation with the formation of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC). Simpson notes the CLSC was designed as a four-year home-reading course with a specific number of books to be completed each year. Its goal was to provide reading and learning opportunities for people “whose educational advantages have been limited.” The CLSC was a huge success with some 180,000 people enrolled by 1891.
Paralleling the creation and growth of the CLSC, Simpson asserts, was the emphasis on constructing buildings and facilities that reflected the influence of the City Beautiful Movement. In the early 20th century, two noted architects, Albert Kelsey and Warren Manning, drew up a plan to turn Chautauqua into a model city. Although never fully implemented, the plan resulted in numerous additions to the Chautauqua grounds including the open-air Hall of Philosophy, the pillared post office, and the town square.
The other three time periods of Chautauqua’s history receive less attention from Simpson, maybe because there was more strife and instability during these periods or because Chautauqua’s standing as a socially relevant national platform declined. The second period, from 1925 to 1944, saw Chautauqua face some serious financial challenges. Simpson explains these challenges resulted partly from the debt incurred from constructing new buildings and offering new programs, and partly from the Depression, which caused gate receipts to fall. Charitable contributions from the Chautauqua constituency as well as from John D. Rockefeller helped avoid financial disaster. The other major topic Simpson discusses from the second period is President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s visit to Chautauqua in August 1936, during which he delivered his “I Hate War” speech.
Chautauqua’s third historic period began with the death of its president, Arthur Bestor, in February 1944 and ended in 1970. During this time, according to Simpson, “Thousands of people still flocked to the grounds each summer…. But the public buildings decayed, with Band-Aid repairs holding them together…and any program component that had to be replaced tended to be seen to with less expense.”
The election of Richard Miller, grandson of Chautauqua co-founder Richard Miller, in 1970 started the fourth period, which saw Chautauqua undergo a Renaissance. Simpson asserts this Renaissance was brought on by a younger constituency, which wanted old homes renovated and condominiums constructed. The fourth period also saw Chautauqua take a leadership role in the international arena. Under the direction of new President Daniel Bratton, Chautauqua hosted a high-level conference on Soviet-U.S. relations. This 1985 conference brought about a dozen representatives from the Soviet embassy together with key American policymakers, such as Paul Nitze, Presidential advisor on nuclear armament and arms control. The next year, some 250 Chautauquans joined senior American diplomats for a follow-up conference with Russian officials in Riga, Latvia. As Simpson notes, “the conference was obviously a triumph in that it made Chautauqua… once again a player on the national — and even international — stage.”
Chautauqua: An American Utopia is neatly organized into nine chapters. It’s easy to read, although some parts are rather dull. That’s especially true of the places where Simpson deals with Chautauqua’s financial problems and the efforts to solve them. To his credit, Simpson draws on several primary sources in piecing his book together. Those include written material from Mary Frances Bestor, daughter of Arthur Bestor, and founder John Vincent, and oral narratives taped by Chautauqua historian Alfreda Irwin. Simpson also deserves credit for using incisive, vivid language to describe not only the physical layout of Chautauqua, but also the unique blend of humanity that came there. Consider this description of Chautauqua’s social fluidity:
“…there was an extraordinary degree of mixing among Chautauquans of varying financial backgrounds. College girls and boys from the best old summer families waited tables at the hotels, and schoolteachers and local business proprietors went to the opera. Mrs. (Thomas) Edison and the Heinzes sat on the open benches of the Amphitheater with the art-school instructor and the clerk in the grocery store.”
More detail would have strengthened Simpson’s narrative. For example, it would have been good get more insight into the conflict between Chautauqua’s Board of Trustees and program director William Harper, when, in the 1890s, he tried diminishing the CLSC and raising gate fees. Later in 1933, when socialist Norman Thomas spoke on “The New Deal from a Socialist Viewpoint,” a question-and-answer session followed. It would have been fascinating to know what questions came from the “heavily Republican” audience and how Thomas answered. Perhaps readers can glean such details from other books on Chautauqua. In the meantime, they can enjoy the panoramic view that Simpson offers.