Join us Thursday
For the next Gallery Talk in our series titled"Culture Under Canvas: Chautauqua Comes to Ames by Train and Tent"Presented by Dr. Charles Kniker, Emeritus Professor of Education, ISU
Imagine
you were an Ames resident from 1904 to 1926. What would you do for
entertainment? Radio and movies were in their infancy. One option was to
attend something called "Chautauqua." Performers and the large tent
they used arrived by train. The site was near what is now Brookside
Park. During the daytime, there were lectures for women and Sunday
School-like classes and play times for children. A season ticket cost
$1.50 and every night for a week there was something new. The
entertainment in Ames ranged from a Shakespearean play to instrumental
music by the Cleveland Ladies Orchestra or the Royal Hungarian
Orchestra; from watching a demonstration of the wireless telegraph to
shaking hands with a presidential candidate like William Jennings Bryan
or lecturer Booker T. Washington. Dr. Kniker will highlight other events
at Chautauqua in addition to displaying pictures and artifacts from
that bygone adult movement, called by some as "the most American thing
in America."
When: Thursday, September 18th at 7pm
Where: The Octagon Center for the Arts-Main Gallery
For full calendar of events visit www.AmesHistory.org
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