In 1874, a training camp for Methodist Sunday school teachers began on the shores of Lake Chautauqua in western New York. Its efforts quickly proved very successful. The camp's founders soon began to develop ways to bring the blessing of their school to a larger audience. With in only a few years there were Chautauqua Circles being organized in towns all over America, including Derry. Most people back then never went to school beyond grade school. The Chautauqua correspondence course allowed those who felt ill-educated a chance to finish their education. After completing a prescribed number of courses, you'd get an impressive diploma suitable for framing.
In 1904, the school took its courses on the road with Circuit Chautauqua which offered educational performances and lectures under huge circus tents. By the 1920s, there were 45 million Americans in 10,000 communities attending Chautauquas. Teddy Roosevelt called it "the most American thing in America." The ever cynical Sinclair Lewis however referred to it as "nothing but wind and chaff for yokels." Still others thought of the Chautauquas as "the thinking man's vaudeville."
The shows were highly organized. A week before the arrival of the Chautauqua, agents would arrive in town to sell tickets. A "season" pass for $2.50 would get you into all five days of performances. Children's tickets were half-price. Single afternoon tickets were 50 cents and admission to the evening's show cost 75 cents. During the dark of night the massive tent would be brought in by rail and set up before morning.
Each evening, the performers from that day's show would board a train and move onto the next town and a new group of performers would arrive in Derry. By the end of the fifth day, the crew would strike the tent and move the Chautauqua on to another town.
Each Chautauqua included lectures on serious topics such as prison reform, foreign cultures, or child welfare. In addition every day there would be musical offerings ranging from grand opera to Hawaiian singers, chanting Buddhist monks to American hillbillies.
Children were sent off into a separate tent where they watched plays based on fairy tales, played supervised games, took part in folk dancing or listened to story hour. My grandfather, Nate Wells, put himself through college by giving Chautauqua lectures in the children's tent on the wonders of science.
The Chautauqua came to Derry each year from 1916 through 1923 and always seems to have played to large audiences. Its tents were set up in three different places during its eight-year run in Derry: the site of today's municipal center; O'Hara Field off South Avenue; and the Parkland Hospital's lot. In 1916, there were 1,600 Derry folk in attendance on the first night to hear The American Quartet sing patriotic songs and listen to a lecture on "Community Conscience."
Each year, there were completely different shows presented in Derry. In July 1918, the First World War was still being fought. Sensing the nationalistic mood sweeping across the nation, the Chautauqua was advertised as presenting "5 Patriotic Days." The Liberty Maids, an all-female orchestra and quartette, sang, "The Music of Our Allies." This was followed by a lecture by former U.S. Consul to Germany Harry Seltzer of his experiences with "Kaiserism."
The second day featured music by another patriotic singing group and a lecture on "Winning the War" by former Nebraska governor Chester Aldrich. And so it went on for the rest of the week. The last day started with a "Pageant of our Allies" by Derry's kids who had rehearsed in the Junior Chautauqua tent. The rest of the afternoon and night was devoted to an American Indian string quartet — each performer from a different tribe — and a storyteller reciting Indians legends and exhibiting Native American artifacts.
Circuit Chautauqua's top stars like former presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan and opera legend Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink never came to Derry. Their talents were reserved for larger venues. Our performers included a saxophone swing band (1917); a 15-piece Italian band (1919); the play "Polly of the Circus" by the Metropolitan Players (1920); American Indian Princess Nasoomee who talked about Indian life while playing a violin (1921); Brush the Great, a magician who "when he opens his boxes of tricks, happiness is king" (1921); Mother Lake on "The Divine Rights of Children" (1921); and the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera "The Mikado" (1922).
The popularity of the Chautauqua diminished during the 1920s. As more and more homes began to have a radio, fewer people felt the need to pay for such highbrow entertainment. During the Great Depression there were few who could afford to buy Chautauqua's tickets. By the start of World War II the Circuit Chautauqua was dead. In recent years however the New Hampshire Humanities Council has brought to the state what was called a "modern Chautauqua." In this show, costumed performers took on the persona of Franklin Roosevelt, Abe Lincoln and Sacagawea.
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Rick Holmes is the former chairman of the Derry Heritage Commission. Several of his books on local history are available at Mack's Apples and Derry's libraries.
