Collection Guide
This document describes a Manuscript Collection held by the
Special
Collections Department
University of Iowa
Libraries
e-mail: lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Guide Contents
Biographical and Historical Information
Scope and Contents of the Collection
Administrative Information
Access and
Restrictions:
Biographical Note
Denton Chester Crowl was born June 1, 1882 to John and Effie Crowl in Urbana, Ohio. By the age of eighteen, Crowl had won a speaking contest. He became acquainted with the evangelist Sam Jones, with whom he eventually worked, perhaps as a secretary. Crowl seems also to have had a gift for impersonation, and he created impersonations of Davy Crockett and Jekyll and Hyde, among others. Eventually he acquired permission to impersonate Sam Jones on the platform, and began appearing on the chautauqua circuits. He also worked as a booking promoter for chautauquas.
Sometime before 1908 he visited H.H. Tredway in Metamora, Ohio, to schedule a chautauqua event and met Tredway's sister Georgia. They were married May 18, 1908, and for more than 20 years, the Tredway farms were Crowl's country summer home where he lived with Georgia and her parents when not traveling. A daughter, Kathryn, was born in 1914.
During the winter months, they moved elsewhere while Crowl pursued ventures such as producing and selling "Glare Shields" for cars and a luggage rack that attached to the running board of a car. He also sold the "Ali Carrier," a set of removable wheels for suitcases invented by a fellow chautauqua performer, J. Mohammad Ali, which took "the lug out of luggage." At times in the 1920s he owned the Metamora Record, a small newspaper. He also contributed editorials to the Toledo Blade.
Crowl was a staunch Republican, opposed to the League of Nations and the New Deal, who thought chautauquas were an ideal venue for getting Republican ideas before the public. He was frustrated when he could not accomplish this, which may have had something to do with his leaving the circuits. In later years he wrote pamphlets regarding taxation and business. He became involved in the first Florida land boom and wrote curricula and conducted training sessions for salesmen in Coral Gables. In the 1920s, Crowl took to Ohio the idea of "The Breakers," a beach resort club in Chicago. He founded the "Catawba Cliffs Beach Club" near Port Clinton, Ohio. Crowl developed the promotional material and as investors purchased memberships, the club grew, eventually including a marina, beach, bathhouse, and finally a club house and hotel. Unfortunately, by 1933 the wealthy members were wealthy no more as the Depression took hold, and the club's grand opening coincided with a bank holiday declared by President Roosevelt. Crowl eventually lost the club. It is still in existence today as the Catawba Island Club.
During the early 1930s Crowl moved his family to Toledo. His final business venture in the 1930s and 1940s was the Allen-Crowl Company which he organized to produce and distribute drugs and medicines especially for dogs. In March 1941, Crowl suffered a stroke while in Florida. He survived but never recovered completely. He died in August 1944 at the age of 62.
Thanks to Jane Rothfuss Reid, Denton Crowl's granddaughter, for this biography.
May 2005
Scope and
Contents
Photographs:
Related Materials
Records of the Redpath Lyceum Bureau, MsC 150 Please note the list of additional mini-collections of Chautauqua material at the end of the Redpath finding aid.
Acquisition and Processing Information
These papers
were given to the University of Iowa Libraries by
Guide posted
to Internet:
Appointment diaries
Biographical materials
Cartoon drawing of Crowl by MAC of janitor crew 7
Chautauqua materials
Community Chautauqua. Correspondence, 1920
Crowl's schedule
1911 -- 1912
1913
1917
1920
1924
1925
Undated
International Lyceum and Chautauqua Association. Lecturer's conference. Washington, D.C., December 7, 8, and 9, 1922. See also large photograph listed under Photographs.
Programs
Clippings
Correspondence
Miscellaneous
Brochure for Ali's Quick Detachable Suitcase Carrier
Rand-McNally Indexed Pocket Map and Auto Road Guide, Tennessee
Small expense account book
National sales tax
Georgia (Tredway) Crowl & Denton C. Crowl, circa 1908, note “Ali Carrier” wheels on luggage
Family home of Denton C. Crowl in Urbana, Ohio; Denton is 3rd from right, Georgia is 2nd from right
Camping on the Chautauqua Circuit: Denton Crowl, Kathryn Crowl, Georgia Crowl; Comment on Bottom of picture: “Side Show”
Denton C. Crowl
Tent on Chautauqua Circuit
Camping on Chautauqua Circuit, left to right: ?, Denton Crowl, Kathryn Crowl, Georgia Crowl; Comment on the back of picture: “Gypsy style life, ha!”
Country home of Denton C. Crowl on Horace Tredway Farm near Metamora, Ohio
Father Vaughn
Denton C. Crowl, circa 1940
Tabernacle Chautauqua Park; Mountainair, New Mexico
Chautauqua audience, circa 1910
Letter to the public by Samuel P. Jones on Friday 9th 190?
Large photograph in map case drawer "Rolled Oversized Photos", Map Case 13, labeled "Conference of International Lyceum and Chautauqua Assoc. on Visit to President Harding, Washington, D.C., Dec. 9, 1922"Large format photograph of a chautauqua group (?) n.d., n.p. Located on top of Map Case 13
Publicity. See oversized box
Publications containing mentions of Crowl
Republican Party
Election 1930
Clippings
Correspondence
Pamphlets and printed matter
"The Spirit of Republicanism." Speech delivered to the Republicans of Lucas County
Scrapbooks. 2 folders. See also oversized box
Writings
Miscellaneous writings. Includes the texts of his Davy Crockett and Sam Jones impersonations
"Pages From Memory"
Political writings
"Scrambled Business" and "Scrambled Taxation"
