August 24, 2012 
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These Chautauqua speakers are giants, although they are not — yet — represented by Royce Carlton. The Oliver Archives Heritage Lecture Series will present “Five More Giants of Chautauqua” today at 3:30 p.m. in the Hall of Christ.
These speakers are Chautauquans giving tribute to Chautauquans who are greater than they are: GIANTS!
This Archives tribute is in its sixth year, an opportunity for Chautauquans to celebrate and respect ancestors — the Institution’s and their own.
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August 21, 2012 0 Comments
The experiment at Fair Point did not happen without help. John Heyl Vincent and Lewis Miller knew people — they had earned attention.
For example, Vincent knew Ulysses S. Grant, a general, a parishioner, a president. And through Vincent’s arrangement, Grant came to Chautauqua in 1875 while he was president. His visit earned attention for the fledgling Institution and could be credited with much of the Institution’s early success.
To speak of Grant, his early association with Vincent and Chautauqua, and to share his early findings as he researches and writes a book about Grant, Ronald White will give a talk titled “Grant at West Point: ‘Much of the time, I’m sorry to say, was devoted to novels.’ ”
As part of the Oliver Archives Heritage Lecture Series, White will speak today at 3:30 p.m. in the Hall of Christ. White is an award winning author — his most recent book, A. Lincoln: A Biography, was published in 2009 and is a New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times bestseller.
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August 18, 2012 0 Comments
At the opening of the 1918 Season, Arthur E. Bestor, Chautauqua Institution president, gave an address titled “Mobilizing the Mind of America,” a title that might be said to reflect a general attitude of the platform that summer. It was important to win the war, no doubt. But there were other things to be done and other lessons to be learned.
“This war is different from all the wars which have gone before,” Bestor said. “It is a war of nations, not of armies. It involves all the material resources, all the mechanical and scientific mobilization of entire populations.”
For United States citizens, it was something new.
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August 17, 2012 0 Comments
To believe. To have faith. It can be difficult.
H.L. Mencken said “Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.”
St. Francis of Assisi said, “Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith.”
So much for the gray area: Now consider atheists.
To put a historical perspective on the enigma of belief, Jon Schmitz, archivist and historian for Chautauqua, will present “Atheism at Chautauqua” at 3:30 p.m. today in the Hall of Christ.
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August 14, 2012 0 Comments
It takes one to know one; that is truism. To see, one must understand; to understand, one must see: that is truth. Or is it French? Or is it radical?
“Too often, ‘radical’ has been taken to be someone who is left-wing or using extreme means to accomplish reform,” said Jon Schmitz, Chautauqua archivist and historian. “But it really means someone going to the root of the matter to solve a problem.”
Schmitz will present “Four Radicals at Chautauqua: Fr. Edward McGlynn on the Single Tax, Arabella B. Buckley on Modernism in Religion, John Dewey on Education, Arnold Schoenberg and Serialism.”
Part of the Oliver Archives Heritage Lecture Series, the presentation is at 3:30 p.m. today in the Hall of Christ.
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August 11, 2012 0 Comments
On April 6, 1917, the United States Congress responded to President Woodrow Wilson’s request and officially declared the country in a state of war. Many people had expected it. Two and a half years earlier, Europe erupted in battle, but the U.S. kept itself neutral. German maritime transgressions, a sense of U.S. responsibility to freedom and democracy, and finally a sense of the country’s vulnerability, led Wilson to make his request. Chautauqua Institution followed.
The 1917 Season would be Chautauqua’s 44th Assembly. As the June 29 edition of The Chautauquan Daily said, it would be a “War-time Chautauqua.”
Ida Tarbell, a former Chautauquan Daily writer and editor, and later muckracker and activist against corporate monopoly, spoke two times that summer, once about “Doing Our Bit” and a second about “Fear of Efficiency.” The Daily reported that the “Famous writer believes that people of the country are doing well in preparation for the coming struggle.”
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August 10, 2012 0 Comments
It is as common as a dollar bill and sometimes as easy to take for granted.
It is the Great Seal of the United States.
Its history and symbols will be the subject of a talk by Priscilla R. Linn at 3:30 p.m. today in the Hall of Christ. The presentation is part of the Oliver Archives Heritage Lecture Series.
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August 7, 2012 0 Comments
An interest, a passion, an obsession — such is the subject of Titanic, the great, unsinkable ship that went down in April 1912, an occasion whose centennial is keeping enthusiasts busy this year, including the two who will speak at 3:30 p.m. today in the Hall of Christ.
Longtime Chautauquan Steve Piper, whose interest has become his passion, will share his obsession, relating some history and some new findings about the ship and where it lies.
Journalism professor and writer Julie Hedgepeth Williams will discuss her recent book, A Rare Titanic Family: The Caldwells’ Story of Survival, which relates the tragedy though the eyes of her great-uncle Albert Caldwell, who, with his family, through grit and good fortune, was one of the few to survive the ordeal intact.
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Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. Over the course of nine weeks, more than 170,000 visitors will participate in programs, classes and community events for all ages—all within the beautiful setting of a historic lakeside village. Learn more →
