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itself, at the Mother Center, a perfect jewel of a rational utopia was taking shape, attended by the
best and brightest minds in American society. You’ll see it in operation just ahead with its soda
pop fountains and model secondary schools.
The great driving force behind Chautauqua in its early years was William Rainey Harper, a Yale
graduate with a Ph.D. in philology, a man expert in ancient Hebrew, a prominent Freemason.
Harper attracted a great deal of attention in his Chautauqua tenure. He would have been a
prominent name on the national scene for that alone, even without his connection to the famous
publishing family.
John Vincent, Chautauqua’s founder, had been struck by the vision of a world college described
in Bacon’s utopia, one crowded and bustling with international clientele and honored names as
faculty. "Chautauqua will exalt the profession of teacher until the highest genius, the richest
scholarship, and the broadest manhood and womanhood of the nation are consecrated to this
service," Vincent once said. His explanation of the movement:
We expect the work of Chautauqua will be to arouse so much interest in the
subject of general liberal education that by and by in all quarters young men
and women will be seeking means to obtain such education in established
resident institutions.... Our diploma, though radiant with thirty-one
seals—shields, stars, octagons—would not stand for much at Heidelberg,
Oxford, or Harvard...an American curiosity.... It would be respected not as
conferring honor upon its holder, but as indicating a popular movement in
favor of higher education.
Chautauqua’s leaders felt their institution was a way station in America’s progress to something
higher. By 1886 Chautauqua was well-known all over. The new University of Chicago, which
Harper took over five years later, was patterned on the Chautauqua system, which in turn was
superimposed over the logic of the German research university. Together with Columbia Teachers
College, Yale, Michigan, Wisconsin, Stanford, and a small handful of others, Chicago would
provide the most important visible leadership for American public school policy well into the
twentieth century.
At the peak of its popularity, eight thousand American communities subscribed to Chautauqua’s
programmatic evangelism. The many tent-circuit Chautauquas simultaneously operating presented
locals with the latest ideas in social progress, concentrating on self-improvement and social
betterment through active Reform with a capital "R." But in practice, entertainment often
superseded educational values because the temptation to hype the box-office draw was insidious.
Over time, Progress came to be illustrated dramatically for maximum emotional impact. Audience
reactions were then studied centrally and adjustments were made in upcoming shows using what
had been learned. What began as education ended as show business. Its legacy is all over modern
schooling in its spurious concept of Motivation.
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