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Ellison-White Chautauqua Bureau scrapbooks

 Collection
Identifier: CA El59

Scope and Contents

The collection contains seventeen scrapbooks (1931-1956) that include clippings, articles, programs, and other printed matter regarding the bureau's sponsored entertainment.

Clippings and programs in the scrapbook give information about the type of entertainment (music, theatre, etc), the location, and date of the performances. The articles give additional information about the performers and attendees.

Dates

  • Creation: 1931-1956

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish collection materials must be submitted to Special Collections and University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.

Biographical / Historical

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia online Chautauqua was "the name given to travelling tent shows which originated in the USA and flourished in Canada 1917-35.

A summer school, established in 1874 on Lake Chautauqua, NY, with an eye to combining adult education and morally uplifting recreation, adopted the name from its location, and gradually the name came to represent the type of recreation offered. In Canada a similar type of organization - a Methodist camp - had been established in 1859 at Grimsby Park in Lincoln County, Ont, but by 1900 interest had declined and by 1909 it had ceased. In the USA, however, 'chautauquas' flourished: by 1900 there were some 200 independent chautauquas serving 31 states, almost all held in permanent pavilions close to lakes and offering lectures, plays, and concerts of religious, classical, and popular music."

The notion of making the chautauquas more accessible by sending them on the road was conceived by the US entrepreneurs Keith Vawter and J.R. Ellison, and in 1904 the first of the 'circuit' chautauquas, housed in portable brown tents, began its tour in the mid-west."

"Ellison left the Vawter-Redpath bureau in 1912 and joined Clarence H. White in establishing the Ellison-White Chautauqua Bureau, headquartered in Portland, Oregon" (Tapia, 81).

Ellison-White Chautauqua Bureau was also known as Ellison-White Lyceum and Chautauqua Association.

The bureau was known in Canada as Dominion Chautauquas. The firm may have also been incorporated as the Elwyn Concert Bureau, Inc.

[Source: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/emc/chautauqua]

[Source: John E. Tapia. Circuit Chautauqua: From Rural Education to Popular Entertainment in early twentieth century America. North Jefferson, Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., 1997. Pg 81.]

Extent

4 linear feet (7 containers)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Travelling chautauqua shows offered lectures, plays, and concerts of religious, classical, and popular music, and in 1912, J.R. Ellison joined with Clarence H. White in establishing the Ellison-White Chautauqua Bureau, headquartered in Portland, Oregon. The collection contains seventeen scrapbooks (1931-1956) that include clippings, articles, programs, and other printed matter regarding the bureau's sponsored entertainment.

Arrangement

Material within this collection is arranged by date. Any arrangement derived from the records' creators or custodians. It may be necessary to look in multiple places for the same types of materials.

Related Materials

Other collections relating to Chautauqua associations, Clarence H. White, and/or the Ellison-White Chautauqua Bureau records at Special Collections and University Archives include:

Ellison-White Chautaugua Bureau records, B 075;

Willamette Valley Chautauqua Association records, B 137;

Clarence H. White papers, Ax 175.

Physical Description

6 flat boxes, 1 oversize flat box

Processing Information

Collection processed by staff.

This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.

This collection received a basic level of processing including minimal to no organization and rehousing.

Description information is drawn in part from information supplied with the collection and initial surveys of the contents.

Title
Guide to the Ellison-White Chautauqua Bureau Scrapbooks
Status
Revise Description
Author
Tanya Parlet and Kira B. Homo
Date
2013
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.
Sponsor
Funding for production of this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Repository Details

Part of the University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives Repository

Contact:
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403-1299 USA