Since Chautauqua’s newspaper, then called the Assembly Daily Herald, didn’t begin until 1876, the Assembly’s third year, it was not until Aug. 2, 1876 that we get a newspaper account of their anniversary celebration —
Independence Day of 1967 fell on a Tuesday, 50 years ago. As one of five 10:45 a.m. lectures under the general title of “Greatness in our Time,” Dr. John D. Stoessinger, director of political affairs
The Chautauqua Oliver Archives Center can be a quiet place — all those dusty documents. But not today, when it hosts an absolute plethora of people and purposes: a banner tour with information on how those relics are restored and cared for; Jon Schmitz and Bill Flanders, signing and selling their book in the Postcard History Series: Chautauqua Institution; and Ed Harmon, signing and selling his most recent compilation of “Well, That’s Chautauqua,” cartoons, satires and spoofs of life on the grounds.
History comes in many voicings, and today at 3:30 p.m. in Hurlbut Memorial Community United Methodist Church, as part of the Oliver Archives Heritage Lecture Series, Jared Jacobsen, organist and coordinator of worship and sacred music, and Marlie Bendiksen, Archives research assistant, will do just that — provide history in voice and song. And they’ll add in something of a dance component, as the title of their presentation indicates: “The Dance That We Do: Hymns We Were Singing In 1931.”
Willard Sterne Randall encountered history at a young age, growing up in Philadelphia, seeing history of the revolution all around him and following his father’s footsteps — from Valley Forge to Gettysburg, wherever their 1950 convertible would take them.
The author of a dozen books, Randall will speak on his most recent subject, Ethan Allen, at 3:30 p.m. today in the Hall of Philosophy. The lecture is part of the Oliver Archives Heritage Lecture Series. A book signing will follow.
It might be that the name, Mary Frances Bestor Cram, is a mouthful. On the other hand, she had a lot to say. Her father, Arthur Bestor, presided over Chautauqua for some 30 years — through two world wars and the Depression. One remarkable event during those years was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s visit to Chautauqua in August 1936, when he gave his “I Hate War” speech.