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97-668: In 1874, Methodist Episcopal minister John Heyl Vincent and businessman Lewis Miller organized the New York Chautauqua Assembly at a campsite on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in the state of New York . Two years earlier, Vincent, editor of the Sunday School Journal , had begun to train Sunday school teachers in an outdoor summer school format. The gatherings grew in popularity. The organization Vincent and Miller founded later became known as

194-439: A "celibate, self-sacrificing, and ascetic brotherhood". Increasingly, preachers were appointed for two-year terms to single-congregation charges called "stations". This allowed stationed pastors to live in the same community every day rather than making short visits every two, four or six weeks as in earlier years. Stationing was facilitated by the construction of parsonages . By 1858, the northern MEC had built 2,174 parsonages for

291-401: A "softening of discipline, embrace of the world, compromise of fundamental Wesleyan practices and precepts, abandonment of the evangelistic mission to society’s marginalized, and loss of Methodism’s prophetic nerve." This included the transformation of the itinerant system into a more settled ministry. A second generation of Methodist preachers were unable to realize Wesley's original vision of

388-864: A balanced program for the members of the assembly. For example, during the 1936 season at the Chautauqua Institution , in anticipation of that year's presidential election, visitors heard addresses by Franklin D. Roosevelt , Republican nominee Alf Landon , and two third-party candidates. A route taken by a troupe of Chautauqua entertainers, the May Valentine Opera Company, which presented Gilbert and Sullivan 's The Mikado during its 1925 "Summer Season", began on March 26 in Abbeville, Louisiana , and ended on September 6 in Sidney, Montana . The Chautauqua style of teaching

485-560: A big part of the Chautauqua experience. Although the movement was founded by Methodists , nondenominationalism was a Chautauqua principle from the beginning, and prominent Catholics like Catherine Doherty took part. In 1892, Lutheran theologian Theodore Emanuel Schmauk was one of the organizers of the Pennsylvania Chautauqua. Early religious expression in Chautauqua was usually of a general nature, comparable to

582-520: A camp meeting. By 1811, Methodists held 400 to 500 camp meetings annually, and historian Nathan Hatch estimates that these events drew in over one million people annually. The Methodist Episcopal Church had committed itself to the antislavery cause, but it became difficult to maintain this stance as Methodism spread to slaveholding areas. To avoid alienating southerners, the 1808 General Conference allowed annual conferences to form their own policies related to buying and selling slaves. In 1816, it amended

679-782: A circuit on a yearly basis to preach and supervise the societies within their circuit. One itinerant preacher in each circuit would be made the "assistant" (because he was an assistant to Wesley), and he would direct the activities of the other itinerant preachers in the circuit, who were called "helpers". Wesley gave out preaching assignments at an annual conference . In 1769, Wesley sent itinerants Robert Williams, Richard Boardman, and Joseph Pilmore to oversee Methodists in America after learning that societies had already been organized there as early as 1766 by Philip Embury , Robert Strawbridge , and Thomas Webb . In 1773, Wesley appointed Thomas Rankin general assistant, placing him in charge of all

776-413: A common purpose. That purpose, bluntly, was to "make a million". Frank Gunsaulus attacked Vawter: "You're ruining a splendid movement," Gunsaulus roared at Keith Vawter, whom he met at a railroad junction. "You're cheapening Chautauqua, breaking it down, replacing it with something what [ sic ] will have neither dignity nor permanence." In Vawter's scheme, each performer or group appeared on

873-557: A dispute emerged over the power of bishops to assign preachers to circuits. O'Kelly and his supporters wanted the right to appeal assignments to the conference, but this proposal was defeated. In response, they left to form the Republican Methodist Church, initiating the first schism in American Methodism. As reflected in the use of the term republican in their name, Republican Methodists desired

970-556: A form of religious enthusiasm that caused insanity. Because of its Arminian doctrines, the evangelistic work of the Methodist Episcopal Church was often opposed by Calvinists . Coke had returned to Britain in 1785 but arrived back in the United States in 1787 with written instructions from Wesley. Wesley ordered the holding of a conference and that Richard Whatcoat be appointed a superintendent. At

1067-509: A large-scale biography of Franklin, a narrative which will be as dramatic, I hope, as he deserves, and yet will truly embody the recent riches of monographic matters which his earlier biographers have not had to help them. Your volume is my constant handbook, and many of my notes are written in the margins of my copy. Gratefully, Carl Van Doren The work in progress became Van Doren's landmark Benjamin Franklin , published in 1938, which won

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1164-490: A lecture, staging an attempted murder of himself, before assigning his students the challenge of writing up what they had seen happen. Mott was a lifelong lover of magazines, his father having hoarded them in the house. His monumental series, A History of American Magazines , started as PhD work at Columbia in the late 1920s. It was projected as six volumes. However, other projects, such as American Journalism , derailed his progress. Four volumes of American Magazines carried

1261-496: A means of raising funds (but this was largely ignored as more and more Methodist churches began charging pew rent). It also expressed concerns over perceived laxity in Methodist standards of discipline, doctrine, dress and sacramental practice. There was also concern over the appearance in some places of false doctrines, such as Arianism , Socinianism and Pelagianism . In order to provide adequate preparation to candidates for

1358-545: A more egalitarian church and objected to the centralized governance and episcopal polity of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Methodist Episcopal Church lost one-fifth of its members and would not begin to experience growth again until 1800. In 1801, the Republican Methodists rejected the Methodist label and later merged with other groups to become the Christian Connection . This group was

1455-656: A number of splinter groups to break away from the church, most notably the Free Methodist Church and Wesleyan Methodist Church . Due to large-scale immigration of Catholics, the Catholic Church displaced the MEC as the largest US denomination by the end of the 19th century. The Methodist Episcopal Church originated from the spread of Methodism outside of England to the Thirteen Colonies in

1552-683: A part of the Chautauqua experience in 1926, when the American Opera Company , an outgrowth of the Eastman School of Music , began touring the country. Under the direction of Russian tenor Vladimir Rosing , the AOC presented five operas in one week at the Chautauqua Amphitheater. By 1929, a permanent Chautauqua Opera company had been established. Chautauquas can be viewed in the context of the populist ferment of

1649-522: A particular day of the program. "First-day" talent would move on to other Chautauquas, followed by the "second-day" performers, and so on, throughout the touring season. By the mid-1920s, when circuit Chautauquas were at their peak, they appeared in over 10,000 communities to audiences of more than 45 million; by about 1940 they had run their course. The Chautauquan was a magazine founded in 1880 by Theodore L. Flood. First printed in Jamestown, New York ,

1746-562: A predecessor body to the United Church of Christ . The second General Conference was held at Baltimore in October 1796. It reduced the number of annual conferences to six and, for the first time, gave them geographical boundaries. With the drawing of definite borders, it would become understood that preachers belonged to a specific annual conference. The General Conference also required that local church property be held in trust for

1843-434: A revolutionary character. While women were not granted formal leadership roles (though some were class leaders occasionally), they played important roles in evangelization through class relations, family networks, correspondence, and in the home. It was common for both women and slaves to publicly deliver exhortations— testimonials and personal conversion narratives distinguishable from sermons because exhorters did not "take

1940-504: A series of touring Chautauquas is attributed to Vawter. Among early Redpath comedians was Boob Brasfield . Reactions to tent Chautauquas were mixed. In We Called it Culture , Victoria and Robert Case write of the new itinerant Chautauqua: The credit–or blame–for devising the Frankenstein mechanism which was both to exalt and to destroy Chautauqua, the tent circuit, must be given to two youths of similar temperament, imagination, and

2037-560: A text" from the Bible . Meetings and services were often characterized by extremely emotional and demonstrative styles of worship. As part of the conversion experience , people often trembled, groaned, screamed, or fell motionless to the ground as if dead . These bodily experiences as well as Methodist ascetic practices and claims of receiving direct communication from the Holy Spirit inspired its opponents to accuse Methodism of being

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2134-490: A widespread and mobile population. Early Methodism was countercultural in that it was anti-elitist and anti-slavery , appealing especially to African Americans and women. While critics derided Methodists as fanatics, the Methodist Episcopal Church continued to grow, especially during the Second Great Awakening in which Methodist revivalism and camp meetings left its imprint on American culture. In

2231-515: Is a recurring motif in Robert M. Pirsig 's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance . The Trouble with Girls , a 1969 film starring Elvis Presley, was based on the 1960 novel Chautauqua by Day Keene and Dwight Vincent Babcock. Methodist Episcopal Church Christianity • Protestantism The Methodist Episcopal Church ( MEC ) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in

2328-669: Is privately owned but affiliated with the United Methodist Church . In contrast, the Colorado Chautauqua is entirely nondenominational and mostly secular. In the 1890s, both Chautauqua and vaudeville were gaining popularity and establishing themselves as important forms of entertainment. While Chautauqua had its roots in Sunday school and valued morality and education highly, vaudeville grew out of minstrel shows , variety acts , and crude humor , and so

2425-641: The American Book Company as part of the American Writers Series. On April 1, 1937, Carl Van Doren wrote to Mr. Mott: 18 West 13 Street, New York Dear Mr. Mott: It has just occurred to me that I have never written to you to tell you what an admirable book I think you and Mr. Jorgenson have done in your Franklin. A volume of selections seldom manages to be also a quintessence of scholarship on its subject. Yours does. I am particularly under obligation to you because I am doing

2522-707: The Boston University School of Theology (1839). In addition, the Methodists became affiliated with already existing Dickinson College and Allegheny College in 1833. Methodists invested in education for women as well, founding Greensboro College in North Carolina and Wesleyan College in Georgia. Frank Luther Mott Frank Luther Mott (April 4, 1886 – October 23, 1964) was an American academic, historian and journalist , who won

2619-457: The Chautauqua Institution . Many other independent Chautauquas were developed in a similar manner. The educational summer camp format proved popular for families and was widely copied by several Chautauquas. Within a decade, "Chautauqua assemblies" (or simply "Chautauquas"), named for the location in New York, sprang up in various North American locations. The Chautauqua movement beginning in

2716-922: The Christmas Conference , was held in December 1784 at Lovely Lane Chapel in Baltimore, Maryland. At this conference, Coke ordained Francis Asbury as co-superintendent according to Wesley's wishes. Asbury had been serving as general assistant since Rankin returned to England. The German-born Philip W. Otterbein , who later helped found the Church of the United Brethren in Christ , participated in Asbury's ordination. The conference adopted Articles of Religion prepared by Wesley (and adapted from

2813-657: The Discipline's prohibition on officeholders owning slaves to apply only in states where emancipation was legal. Another problem was that the MEC failed to give African American members full equality and inclusion in the church. This failure led to the development of segregated church institutions under white supervision. In 1800, the General Conference authorized bishops to ordain African American men as local deacons. Richard Allen of Philadelphia

2910-483: The Methodist Quarterly Review , was published continually from 1818 until 1932 and had a longer life than any other religious publication. The church continued to grow during this period. Sometime around 1800, Methodism expanded into the region around Cincinnati, Ohio, and by 1807, the first Methodist church had been built in the city. In 1809, William Case was sent as a missionary to Detroit in

3007-713: The Michigan Territory and was followed a year later by William Mitchell, who organized what is today Central United Methodist Church and the oldest Protestant congregation in Michigan. In 1808, Matthew P. Sturdevant established a new circuit along the banks of the Tombigbee River in Alabama. In the years 1809 and 1810, John Crane established new circuits in Upper Louisiana in what is today

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3104-667: The Southern United States , church leaders became less willing to condemn the practice of slavery or to grant African American preachers and congregations the same privileges as their European American counterparts. A number of black churches were formed as African Americans withdrew from the MEC, including the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church . By

3201-463: The Sunday school and the local missionary and tract societies. The meetings of these organizations featured prayer, hymns, testimony and exhortation. To accommodate these educational and missional efforts, Methodists began building larger and more impressive facilities, often on main streets , in the 1830s and 1840s. By the 1830s, loud voices had emerged against the transformation of the denomination. These voices were nostalgic and disappointed over

3298-607: The United Methodist Church . The MEC's origins lie in the First Great Awakening when Methodism emerged as an evangelical revival movement within the Church of England that stressed the necessity of being born again and the possibility of attaining Christian perfection . By the 1760s, Methodism had spread to the Thirteen Colonies , and Methodist societies were formed under the oversight of John Wesley . As in England, American Methodists remained affiliated with

3395-910: The United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, the MEC reunited with two breakaway Methodist denominations (the Methodist Protestant Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South ) to form the Methodist Church . In 1968, the Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form

3492-486: The "Little Mother of the Prisons", was another popular circuit performer. Her descriptions of prison life moved her audiences to tears and roused them to reform. Jane Addams spoke on social problems and her work at Hull House . Helen Potter was another notable Chautauqua performer. She performed a variety of roles, including men and women. Gentile writes: "Potter's choice of subjects is noteworthy for its variety and for

3589-587: The 1760s. Earlier, Methodism had grown out of the ministry of John Wesley , a priest in the Church of England (also known as the Anglican Church) who preached an evangelical message centered on justification by faith , repentance , the possibility of having assurance of salvation , and the doctrine of Christian perfection . Wesley was loyal to the Anglican Church, and he organized his followers into parachurch societies and classes with

3686-450: The 1804 General Conference, these two conferences together had 70 preachers present, while the other five conferences combined had only 42 preachers present. To solve this problem, delegated representation for General Conference was introduced in 1808. Each annual conference was entitled to send one representative for every five conference members. The Restrictive Regulations were also adopted at this time. These rules, which were regarded as

3783-495: The 1830s, however, a renewed abolitionist movement within the MEC made keeping a neutral position on slavery impossible. Ultimately, the church divided along regional lines in 1845 when pro-slavery Methodists in the South formed their own Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Around the same time, the holiness movement took shape as a renewal movement within the MEC focused on the experience of Christian perfection, but it eventually led

3880-625: The 1870s may be regarded as a successor to the Lyceum movement from the 1840s. As the Chautauquas began to compete for the best performers and lecturers, lyceum bureaus assisted with bookings. Today, Lakeside Chautauqua and the Chautauqua Institution, the two largest Chautauquas, still draw thousands each summer season. Independent Chautauquas (or "daughter Chautauquas") operated at permanent facilities, usually fashioned after

3977-615: The 1939 Pulitzer Prize for History for Volumes II and III of his series, A History of American Magazines . Mott was born in Rose Hill, Iowa . His parents were Mary E. (Tipton) and David Charles Mott, publishers of the weekly What Cheer, Iowa Patriot . The Mott family owned a print shop in Keokuk County . He was a practicing Quaker . When he was 10 his father began publishing the Audubon, Iowa Republican and he assisted in

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4074-738: The 1939 Pulitzer Prize for History , and Volume 4 won the Bancroft Prize in 1958. Mott served as president of Kappa Tau Alpha in 1937–1939. He died in Columbia, Missouri on October 23, 1964. In 1936, Mott collaborated with Chester E. Jorgenson, Instructor in English at the University of Iowa to publish Benjamin Franklin: Representative Selections, With Introduction, Bibliography, and Notes for

4171-526: The Chautauqua Institute in New York, or at rented venues such as in an amusement park . Such Chautauquas were generally built in an attractive semirural location a short distance outside an established town with good rail service . At the Chautauqua movement's height in the 1920s, several hundred of these existed, but their numbers have since dwindled. "Circuit Chautauquas" (or colloquially, "Tent Chautauquas") were an itinerant manifestation of

4268-566: The Chautauqua included groups like the Jubilee Singers , who sang a mix of spirituals and popular tunes, and singers and instrumental groups like American Quartette , who played popular music, ballads, and songs from the "old country". Entertainers on the Chautauqua circuit such as Charles Ross Taggart , billed as "The Man From Vermont" and "The Old Country Fiddler", played violin, sang, performed ventriloquism and comedy, and told tall tales about life in rural New England . Opera became

4365-451: The Chautauqua movement founded by Keith Vawter (a Redpath Lyceum Bureau manager) and Roy Ellison in 1904. Vawter and Ellison were unsuccessful in their initial attempts to commercialize Chautauqua, but by 1907 they had found a great success in their adaptation of the concept. The program was presented in tents pitched "on a well-drained field near town". After several days, the Chautauqua would fold its tents and move on. The method of organizing

4462-485: The Christmas Conference mandated that all Methodist laity and preachers emancipate their slaves. While African Americans were not yet ordained and classes were segregated by race, important African American leaders did emerge, such as Harry Hosier who was an associate of Asbury and Coke. Because of Methodism's conscious repudiation of upper class values and lifestyles, elite women who converted took on

4559-775: The Church of England's Thirty-nine Articles ) as a doctrinal statement for the new church, and it also received an abridged version of the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer provided by Wesley, titled The Sunday Service of the Methodists; With Other Occasional Services . American Methodists, however, preferred non- liturgical worship and The Sunday Service was largely ignored. The conference adopted an organization consisting of superintendents, elders, deacons , traveling preachers, and local preachers . Preachers were licensed to preach but were not ordained and could not administer sacraments. Traveling preachers worked full-time in itinerant ministry and were supported financially by

4656-486: The Church of England, but this state of affairs became untenable after the American Revolution . In response, Wesley ordained the first Methodist elders for America in 1784. Under the leadership of its first bishops , Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury , the Methodist Episcopal Church adopted episcopal polity and an itinerant model of ministry that saw circuit riders provide for the religious needs of

4753-633: The Holy Bible . These works would guide American Methodist belief for the next century. The General Conference placed Joshua Soule and Thomas Mason in charge of the Methodist Book Concern, the church's publishing house. The conference also ordered the publication of a monthly periodical, The Methodist Magazine . This magazine soon acquired a circulation of 10,000 at a time when popular secular periodicals had circulations between 4,000 and 5,000. The Methodist Magazine , later renamed

4850-603: The MEC to establish the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in 1816. According to Nathan Bangs , the MEC might have lost nearly 900 African American members to the AME Church in its first year alone. Other African American members left to form separate churches as well. A group based in Wilmington, Delaware, founded the African Union Church in 1813, and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

4947-539: The Methodist Episcopal Church. Local preachers were made eligible for ordination as deacons after four years of service. Another bishop was found necessary to aid Asbury due to Coke's frequent trips to Britain; Coke was regarded as a leading figure in Britain's Wesleyan Methodist Church , which itself split from the Anglican Church after Wesley's death in 1791. At the third General Conference held in May 1800, Richard Whatcoat

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5044-590: The Methodist Tract Society organized in 1817. By the 1820s, Methodists were ready to build institutions of higher education. Citing the lack of non-Calvinist colleges and seminaries, the 1820 General Conference encouraged annual conferences to establish ones under Methodist control. Around two hundred were founded by the Civil War. These included Augusta College (1822), McKendree University (1828), Wesleyan University (1831), Emory University (1836), Emory and Henry College (1836), DePauw University (originally Indiana Asbury University in 1837), and what would become

5141-427: The Methodist preachers and societies in America. On July 4, 1773, Rankin presided over the first annual conference on American soil at Philadelphia. At that time there were 1,160 Methodists in America led by ten lay preachers. Itinerant Methodist preachers would become known as circuit riders . Methodist societies in America also operated within the Church of England. There were several Anglican priests who supported

5238-436: The University of Iowa while a professor there. He married Vera Ingram. His daughter was archaeologist Mildred Mott Wedel . Mott became professor of English at the University of Iowa in 1921, rising to associate professor and of journalism and director of the school of journalism in 1925. He continued at UI until he was appointed Dean of the University of Missouri (MU)'s School of Journalism in 1942. Mott may have coined

5335-529: The church claimed 14,986 members and 83 preachers. Early Methodists were drawn from the ranks of slaves , poor whites, and "middling people"— artisans , shopkeepers, petty merchants and small planters . These social classes were attracted to Methodism's condemnation of the worldliness of the gentry . Slaves and free blacks were especially attracted to the Methodist Episcopal Church's condemnation of slavery. Prominent Methodists such as Coke, Asbury, and Freeborn Garrettson preached an antislavery message, and

5432-413: The church's constitution, prohibited the General Conference from modifying the church's doctrinal standards and episcopal government unless such amendments were approved all the annual conferences. William McKendree was elected the fourth bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the first American-born bishop to replace the deceased Whatcoat. The 1812 General Conference was the first to convene under

5529-414: The church's decision-making process. Each annual conference had to agree on legislation before it was enacted, but this became unwieldy when the number of conferences grew to eleven. The need for a centralized policy-making body led to the creation of a council of bishops and presiding elders (who supervised multi-circuit districts) in 1789, but this body was soon abolished after meeting only twice. After

5626-425: The conference, James O'Kelly and Jesse Lee led opposition to Coke and to Wesley’s authority. Many preachers were offended that Coke and Wesley seemed to be taking decision making out of the hands of the American church. They also feared that Whatcoat's appointment would lead to the recall of Asbury, and this led the conference to reject Whatcoat's appointment (Whatcoat would successfully be elected in 1800). In 1788,

5723-409: The early 19th century, the MEC became the largest and most influential religious denomination in the United States. With growth came greater institutionalization and respectability, and this led some within the church to complain that Methodism was losing its vitality and commitment to Wesleyan teachings, such as the belief in Christian perfection and opposition to slavery . As Methodism took hold in

5820-549: The emotionalism and enthusiasm displayed, such as crying, shouting, jerking and falling. Methodist leaders such as Asbury expected order to be maintained, but they were not opposed to the emotional effects often seen in these meetings. Other Methodists, such as John Fanning Watson , disagreed. In his book Methodist Error; or, Friendly, Christian Advice: To Those Methodists Who Indulge in Extravagant Religious Emotions and Bodily Exercises , published anonymously in 1814, Watson argued that such emotional displays were not appropriate on

5917-430: The end of an era for the MEC. Asbury and Jesse Lee died that year, and Coke had died in 1815 while conducting missionary work for the British Conference. All of these men had championed the itinerant model of ministry. Following the death of Asbury, the 1816 General Conference elected Enoch George and Robert Richford Roberts to serve as bishops along with McKendree. The General Conference disapproved of pew rental as

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6014-473: The end of the Asbury era, which was characterized as one of greater religious enthusiasm, revivals and camp meetings. These voices were dismissed as "croakers" because it seemed they never missed an opportunity to complain, whether in the pulpit, through conference sermons or on the pages of Methodist periodicals. Nathan Bangs is credited with leading the campaign for respectability. As the denomination's book agent and editor of both The Methodist Magazine and

6111-640: The fact that she was credible in her impersonations of men as well as of women. In retrospect, Potter's impersonations are of special interest as examples of the kind of recycling or refertilization of inspiration that occurs throughout the history of the one-person show." On a lighter note, author Opie Read's stories and homespun philosophy endeared him to audiences. Other well-known speakers and lecturers at Chautauqua events of various forms included U.S. Representative Champ Clark , Missouri Governor Herbert S. Hadley , and Wisconsin Governor "Fighting Bob" La Follette . Christian instruction, preaching, and worship were

6208-418: The failure of the council, a General Conference was held in November 1792 at Baltimore. This first General Conference gave itself legislative power over the church, determined to meet every four years, and decided membership for general and annual conferences would include all elders, deacons, and traveling preachers. Local preachers and other lay members were denied voting rights. At the General Conference,

6305-406: The goal of promoting spiritual revival within the Church of England. Members of Methodist societies were expected to attend and receive Holy Communion in their local parish church , but Wesley also recruited and supervised lay preachers for itinerant or traveling ministry. Around fifteen or twenty societies formed a circuit. Anywhere from two to four itinerant preachers would be assigned to

6402-499: The history up to 1905. Mott died after starting work on Volume V: 1905–1930. Volume V does not extend the history past 1905; it includes 21 of a projected 36 sketches of individual magazines, intended as supplementary material to the 1905-1930 history. It also includes an index for all five volumes. Presumably, Volume VI would have covered the history from 1931 to Mott's present day, plus additional supplementary materials. Volumes II and III of A History of American Magazines (1938) won

6499-475: The largest and most widespread denomination in the United States, boasting "the most extensive national organization other than the Federal government." In the Antebellum era , a new generation of leaders, upwardly mobile preachers and laity, would lead the Methodist Episcopal Church toward social respectability and inclusion within America's Protestant establishment . In the process, the MEC would experience what some contemporaries and later interpreters considered

6596-513: The late 19th century. Manifestos such as the " Populist Party Platform" voiced disdain for political corruption and championed the plight of the common people in the face of the rich and powerful. Other favorite political reform topics in Chautauqua lectures included temperance (even prohibition ), women's suffrage , and child labor laws . But the Chautauqua movement usually avoided taking political stands as such, instead inviting public officials of all major political parties to lecture, assuring

6693-612: The later Moral Re-Armament movement. In the first half of the 20th century, fundamentalism was the subject of an increasing number of Chautauqua sermons and lectures. But the great number of Chautauquas, as well as the absence of any central authority over them, meant that religious patterns varied greatly among them. Some were so religiously oriented that they were essentially church camps , while more secular Chautauquas resembled summer school and competed with vaudeville in theaters and circus tent shows with their animal acts and trapeze acrobats. One example, Lakeside Chautauqua ,

6790-425: The magazine became less a general magazine and more the official organ of the organization. Lectures were the mainstay of the Chautauqua. Until 1917, they dominated the circuit Chautauqua programs. The reform speech and the inspirational talk were the two main types of lecture until 1913. Later topics included current events, travel, and stories, often with a comedic twist. The most prolific speaker (often booked in

6887-480: The magazine soon found a home in Meadville, Pennsylvania , where Flood bought a printing shop. It printed articles about Christian history, Sunday school lessons, and lectures from Chautauqua. By the end of the decade, the magazine was printing articles by well-known authors of the day ( John Pentland Mahaffy , John Burroughs , Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen ), and serial educational material (including courses by William Torrey Harris and Arthur Gilman ). Strongly allied with

6984-486: The main organization, it had easy access to popular authors ("the big fish in the intellectual sea", according to Frank Luther Mott ), but Flood was wary of making his magazine too dry for popular taste, and sought variety. By 1889 the magazine changed course radically and dropped the serials that were Chautauqua's required reading, expanding with articles on history, biography, travel, politics, and literature. One section had editorial articles from national newspapers; another

7081-470: The ministry, the bishops were directed to create a Course of Study featuring a prescribed reading list, the first effort to introduce a formal process for ministry preparation. The Course of Study reflected American Methodism's continued reliance on British theologians. The reading list included Wesley's Sermons and Notes , John Fletcher 's four-volume Checks to Antinomianism , Joseph Benson 's Sermons on Various Occasions and Coke’s six-volume Commentary on

7178-609: The new rules adopted in 1808. This conference, meeting in New York City, made local deacons eligible for ordination as elders. The Ohio and Tennessee Conferences were created to replace the Western Conference. This made nine in all, the others being the New York, New England, Genesee (including circuits in Upper and Lower Canada ), South Carolina, Virginia, Baltimore and Philadelphia conferences. The year 1816 marked

7275-654: The number of annual conferences had grown to six. A year later, the number of annual conferences had increased to eleven. The church's reach also began to significantly expand beyond the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountain ranges. In 1791, a circuit was established in Upper Canada by William Losee . It was during this time that the first Methodist college in America was established, the short-lived Cokesbury College in Maryland. This growth revealed problems with

7372-543: The part of converted Christians in public worship but should be restricted to the time of conversion or, for those already converted, to private devotion at home. While historians have emphasized the importance of camp meetings on the American frontier, camp meetings were vibrant parts of Methodist community life in the more settled areas along the East Coast as well. For example, some of the most significant meetings at

7469-412: The reordination of Methodist preachers, and the reconsecration of Coke and Asbury as Episcopal bishops. When Asbury learned of the negotiations, he blocked the merger plan from being considered. Despite controversies over authority, the Methodist Episcopal Church continued to enjoy growth. By 1788, there were 37,354 members, of which 6,545 were African American. The number of circuits had grown to 85 and

7566-401: The same venues with three-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan ) was Russell Conwell , who delivered his famous " Acres of Diamonds " speech 5,000 times to audiences on the Chautauqua and Lyceum circuits, which had this theme: Get rich, young man, for money is power and power ought to be in the hands of good people. I say you have no right to be poor. Maud Ballington Booth ,

7663-466: The scarcity of Anglican ministers, Methodists in the United States were unable to receive the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion. On September 1, 1784, Wesley responded to this situation by personally ordaining two Methodists as elders for America, with the right to administer the sacraments, and also ordained Thomas Coke (who was already an Anglican priest) as a superintendent with authority to ordain other Methodist clergy . Because Wesley

7760-466: The societies they served. Local preachers pursued secular employment but preached on Sundays in their local communities. Deacons were preachers authorized by a superintendent to officiate weddings, bury the dead, baptize, and assist the elders in administering the Lord's Supper. Only ordained elders could administer the Lord's Supper, and they were also placed in charge of circuits. In the year of its founding,

7857-510: The start of the 19th century occurred on the Delmarva Peninsula , a place that became known as the "Garden of Methodism". Camp meetings were often held simultaneously with Methodist quarterly meetings (circuit business meetings held four times each year). In America, quarterly meetings had already evolved into two-day religious festivals, so it became standard practice for quarterly conferences to make one of their warm-weather sessions

7954-593: The state of Missouri. After the War of 1812 , the Canadian conferences withdrew from the American church to become the Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada . The Presbyterian -led Cane Ridge Revival of 1801 birthed the first definitive camp meeting in American history, and this multi-day revivalistic event would be enthusiastically adopted by the Methodist Episcopal Church. For Methodists, these meetings were important evangelistic tools, but they were often criticized for

8051-459: The term photojournalism in 1924. He was influential in the development of photojournalism education: the first photojournalism class was taught at UI during his tenure, and the first photojournalism program, directed by Clifton C. Edom , started at MU in 1943 upon his request. His textbook on American Journalism: A History of Newspapers in the United States through 250 years 1690 to 1940 (1941 and later revised editions covering through 1960)

8148-538: The title of superintendent was changed to bishop. Coke's reputation among American Methodists further suffered when his secret negotiations for a union with the Episcopal Church (as American Anglicans now styled themselves) were discovered. Coke had written and met with William White , the Episcopal Church's presiding bishop , discussing the possible lowering of Episcopal ministerial standards,

8245-465: The turn of the 20th century, vaudeville managers began a push for more "refinement", as well as a loosening of Victorian-era morals from the Chautauqua side. Over time, as vaudeville became more respectable, Chautauqua became more permissive in what it considered acceptable acts. The boundaries between the two began to blur. Music was important to Chautauqua, with band music in particular demand. John Philip Sousa protégé Bohumir Kryl 's Bohemian Band

8342-427: The two movements found themselves at odds. Chautauqua was considered wholesome family entertainment and appealed to middle classes and people who considered themselves respectable or aspired to respectability. Vaudeville, on the other hand, was widely considered vulgar babbitry , and appealed to working-class men. There was a stark distinction between the two, and they generally did not share performers or audiences. At

8439-472: The typesetting. He did the first three years of his college education at Simpson College and then completed his bachelor's degree at the University of Chicago . Mott attended Columbia University starting in 1917, earning his M.A. in 1919. Carl Van Doren , mentioned in the Franklin section below, was teaching at Columbia during this time, and the two may have met then. Mott earned his Ph.D. in 1928 from

8536-444: The use of over 5,000 traveling preachers. Stationed preachers and their wives posed problems for the system of class meetings on which Methodist societies were based, and Methodists were noting the decline of the classes by the 1820s. The functions that class meetings and class leaders traditionally provided—discipline and spiritual formation—were taken over by the preacher and his wife. Alternative small group settings were provided by

8633-555: The weekly Christian Advocate , Bangs was the MEC's most visible and influential leader up until the 1860s. Under his watch, the Christian Advocate became the most widely circulated periodical in the world, and the Book Concern was transformed from merely a distributor of British reprints into a full-fledged publishing house providing literature for adults, children, and Sunday schools, as well as producing tracts for

8730-544: The work of the Methodists, attending Methodist meetings and administering the sacraments to Methodists. These included Charles Pettigrew of North Carolina, Samuel Magaw of Dover and then Philadelphia, and Uzel Ogden of New Jersey. Anglican clergyman Devereux Jarratt (1733–1801) was a particularly active supporter, founding Methodist societies in Virginia and North Carolina. The American Revolution severed ties to England and left America's Anglican Church in disarray. Due to

8827-489: Was finally elected and consecrated the third bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Since the annual conferences were given geographical boundaries in 1796, they increasingly acted like states, demanding proportional representation in General Conference. Because General Conference met frequently in Baltimore, it was often dominated by the conferences closest to that city, the Philadelphia and Baltimore conferences. At

8924-414: Was formed by African American Methodists in New York City. These groups left over not receiving the prerogatives and standing within the denomination that their white counterparts were given, such as ordination, representation and property ownership. Despite these losses, however, the majority of African American Methodists remained within the MEC. In the 19th century, the Methodist Episcopal Church became

9021-418: Was frequently seen on the circuit. One of the numbers Kryl featured was the " Anvil Chorus " from Il Trovatore , with four husky timpanists in leather aprons hammering on anvils shooting sparks (enhanced through special effects ) across the darkened stage. Spirituals were also popular. White audiences appreciated seeing African-Americans performing something other than minstrelsy . Other musical features of

9118-421: Was not a bishop , his ordination of Coke and the others was not recognized by the Church of England, and, consequently, this marked American Methodism's separation from the Anglican Church. Wesley's actions were based in his belief that the order of bishop and priest were one and the same, so that both possess the power to ordain others. The founding conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, known commonly as

9215-487: Was the "Woman's Council Table", which excerpted articles often by famous women writers, though all this material remained required reading for the Chautauqua program. Contemporary publications regarded the magazine highly, and Mott writes, "its range of topics was indeed remarkable, and its list of contributors impressive". Flood stopped editing the magazine in 1899, and journalist Frank Chapin Bay, schooled by Chautauqua, took over;

9312-436: Was the first to be ordained under this rule. Earlier in 1794, Allen had led other African American members to withdraw from St. George's Church in response to racial discrimination by white church members. Under Allen's leadership and with Asbury's blessing, they founded Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church . Under the leadership of Allen and Daniel Coker , Bethel Church and other African American congregations left

9409-565: Was the standard resource in courses on the history of journalism. In reviewing the book, The New York Times said it is "sure to remain as one of the most valuable and informative resources on the story of our daily press." Mott was the chief of the journalism section of the American Army University of Biarritz and was sent to Japan to advice General MacArthur's staff on magazines and newspapers. Mott regularly set his students an unexpected challenge: suddenly, midway through

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