Finding Aid

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Scope and Contents

This collection is rich in many areas. Photographs, postcards, travel arrangements, employee assignments, and correspondence relating to the Swarthmore Bureau are included in Box 1. Box 2 contains general Chautauqua material as well as information specific to various Chautauqua bureaus, including Swarthmore. Some of the books under management companies date back to the late 1800s, which provides a picture of the types of talent appearing at that time. Programs are often "Guarantor's Editions" which picture and describe the talent available for a specific season. This would be taken to communities so local committees could select the talent they would like to contract for. Many programs list dates and towns/cities but no state or province. There is a program present from New Zealand. Although Moredock was employed by Swarthmore, he collected general Chautauqua material in addition to that from other bureaus. Publications housed in Box 2 appear to be quite rare.

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Biographical Note

Albert E. Moredock was born in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania in 1903. He graduated from Waynesburg High School and attended Waynesburg College for two years. He transferred to Carnegie Tech [Carnegie Mellon University] and graduated in Metallurgical Engineering in 1929. He became a non-ferrous metallurgist and recognized expert on the production and industrial use of copper and copper alloys. For 13 years he worked with Chase Brass and Copper Company, Waterbury, Connecticut and was Chief metallurgist of the Allegany Ordnance Plant at Cumberland, Maryland during World War II. Following the war he was a Senior Metallurgist at the R and D Center at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Alfred Moredock retired in 1969.

During the summers of 1923-1927, Moredock was a crewman and eventually "Captain of the Tent Crew" for Swarthmore Chautauqua. He wrote in a letter addressed to Robert McCown, then Head of Special Collections, dated July 9, 1973, "I had a very good and happy boyhood and our family loved good music. I was shy, however, and couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to do. Chautauqua altered all that. I learned how to travel, how to meet and get along with people--I saw all of the Northeastern part of the U.S. and Canada on Chautauqua. I learned I could do things as well as and maybe a little better than other people of my age. I learned to love and appreciate even more good music and the theatre - how to travel and meet and get along with people even before I was out of college and into industry. Chautauqua crew jobs were not easy to get. Fred High was with the Billboard in Chicago as head of the Lyceum and Chautauqua section - he was a friend of my father - and it was through him I got the tent crew job. I have benefited from my experiences on Chautauqua all my life."

According to other correspondence from Moredock, Fred High was a native of West Virginia and primarily a newspaperman. He was active in Chautauqua in early days as an entertainer and married Nora Summersgill, a singer and Chautauqua entertainer. Fred and Nora High are represented in the Talent series of MsC 150, the Redpath Chautauqua Collection.

 

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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.

 

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Box Contents List

Box 1

Baggage Car/Inter-Circuit Car Movements, 1924, 1925, 1927

Baggage Car Schedules, 1924-1927

Circuit Schedules, 1920, 1922-1927, 1929

Correspondence, 1920-1947

Expenses and Receipts, 1927

Miscellaneous, including complimentary passes; notices to tent crew; printed cards containing quips and poems by talent; bulletins; equipment list forms.   

Photographs, with the majority identified as Chautauqua talent star Elsie Baker. These include photos of Baker as a young woman and later in life. Photocopies of the images have been placed in Elsie Baker's file in the Talent series of MsC 150, Records of the Redpath Chautauqua Collection.

----Elsie Baker, 5 photographs similar to those used in talent brochures
----Elsie Baker and unidentified group of people (talent?) outside of tent
----Elsie Baker, with crutches, being carried in chair by four men
----Frank Hauser, Elsie Baker (in wheelchair) and William Durieux
----Elsie Baker in wheelchair
----Same
----Elsie Baker, on crutches, with young boy outside store
----John Temple Graves; "To My dear Friend and Chautauqua Comrade, 9/1923--Elsie Baker, Queen of Song from John Temple Graves"

Later years, at the fifth annual "John Bieling Day" party. It appears this was an annual gathering of former Chautauqua talent and employees. Captions taken from back of photos. Most have "Jim Walsh, Box 131, Vinton, VA" typed on the back:

----Will Oakland, Jimmy Martindale, Elsie Baker and Billy Murray (with Brant Burke's famous cylinder phonograph) at the fifth annual John Bieling Day party
----Elsie Baker and group of unidentified people
----Elsie Baker, Arthur Hall, Edna White, Charles Harrison and Eugene Rose
----A typical scene at the fifth annual John Bieling Day party: Fred Van Eps, noted as one of the world's greatest banjoists, now a manufacturer of radio equipment at Plainfield, N.J.; Fred Rubenstein, accountant for Thomas A. Edison, Inc.; and Arthur Hall, favorite recording tenor of the 1920s
----John Young and part of Elsie Baker
----Elsie Baker, with Harvey Hindermeyer in the background
----Elsie Baker and Ross Keegan
----Jim Walsh and Elsie Baker, taken at the fifth John Bieling Day party, after they had received a long distance telephone call from Dale Miller in Long Beach, California, asking, "How's everything going at the party?"
----Arthur Hall and Harvey Hindermeyer, obviously having a good time after the John Bieling Day party
----A reunion of two old pals at the John Bieling Day party--Frank Banta, pianist, and Fred Van Eps, banjo virtuoso. Banta became a member of the Van Eps Trio when he was only 16, and both artists traveled for several years as part of the Eight Famous Victor Artists troupe
----After the party, at the Bieling home. Mrs. Bieling's sister, Mrs. Moore; Mrs. Selinger; Mrs. Manning; Ed Manning and Harry Selinger.
----A characteristic scene in the Bieling home after the John Bieling Day party: Beryl Howell, reporter for the Hempstead Newsday, interviews Irving Kaufman. In background, another reporter, Harvey Aronson

Postcards. A mixed collection of postcards featuring Chautauqua grounds, talent, and a poem. Photocopies of the originals have been placed in the Talent and Towns/Cities series in MsC 150, Records of the Redpath Chautauqua Collection.

----Athletic Field and Club, Chautauqua, New York, August 1906
----Auditorium Entrance, Winona Lake, Indiana
----Dunbar Singing Orchestra Appearing on all Redpath-Vawter Chautauquas 1911
----Garretta and his Pets; Prince the Trick Pony; Redpath Vawter Chautauquas 1911
----The Pittsburgh Ladies Orchestra (organized 1911) toured 19 states. Convention and Banquet Entertainers, special Musical Acts. Verso: Information on Albert D. Liefeld and groups he directs
----San Augustine Band from Laredo, Texas
----Saxony Opera Singers, Formerly English Opera Singers. Walter W. Flora, Manager
----Thaviu and His Band. 1911; Redpath-Vawter Chautauqua System
----White Rose Orchestra, Appearing on all Redpath-Vawter Chautauquas. 1911; Redpath-Vawter Chautauqua System
----"The Town of Babyville" (poem). Verso: unidentified woman

Staff and crew appointments, 1920-1929

Swarthmore Chautauqua Association Weekly/Bi-Weekly Newsletter, 1924-1926, 1927, 1928, 1929

Travel Schedules, Railway Time Tables and Route Sheets, 1924, 1927-1928

Box 2

The Billboard, I.L.C.A. Convention Number, September 16, 1922

Chautauqua General Materials
----Battis, WIlliam Sterling. "Little Visits to Little People Who Live in Books"
----Chautauqua, A Summer City. Good descriptive booklet of Chautauqua, New York, 1900
----Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Home Reading Course for 1897-1898
----Chautauqua Book Store in-stock publications [n.d.]
----The Chautauqua Quarterly, v. XIV, No. 2, Final Edition (April 1914)
----The Chautauqua Quarterly, v. XXIV, No. 2, Preliminary Edition, (April 1924)
----Chautauqua Teachers' Reading Circle, 1895-1896
----Complete list of Lyceum and Chautauqua Bureaus in the U.S. [n.d.]
----Announcement of talent for Season 1912-1913, Dixie Lyceum Bureau
----Local Committee invitational letter to Chautauqua
----Information Book of Chautauqua, 1941
----Sample sheet of Classification of the Membership of International Lyceum and Chautauqua Association [n.d.]
----Stewart, C.E., "The Chautauqua's in Our Town"
----Wooglin on Chautauqua and other information on Chautauqua Lake area
----Chautauqua Home Reading Course, 1923

Chautauqua History
----John Heyl Vincent, Commemorative Exercises, August 1, 1920
----Chautauqua from the Observer, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, July 5, 1927
----Behind the Scenes of the Chautauqua (2 copies)

Chautauqua songs
----"The Chautauqua Songs for the Use of Members of the C.L.S.C." New York: Chautauqua Press, 1884
----Sacred Songs Used by Redpath Chautauquas in their Sunday Programs
----"Sweet Genevieve," sheet music, "Special Chautauqua Edition," with picture of Nora Mae High on the cover

International Lyceum Association of America
----Ninth Annual Convention and Chautauqua of the International Lyceum Association of America, 1911
----Eleventh Annual Convention, 1913
----Memorial Services, September 16, 1917
----Sixteenth Annual Convention, 1918
----Twenty-fourth Annual Convention, 1926
----Twenty-eighth Annual Convention, 1930

Management Companies
----Blue Book of Lecture Celebrities, Louis J. Alber, 1925-1926?
----Blue Book of Lecture Celebrities, Alber-Wickes Platform Service, 1926-1927
----Wade Entertainment Bureau, Seventeenth Season, 1900?
----Phipps Lyceum Bureau, Season of 1891-1892
----Phipps and Gottschalk,1888-1889

Newspaper clippings and printed articles
----Hershey, S.B. "Bankruptcy and The Lyceum"
----Wiggam, Albert Edward "Is the Chautauqua Worthwhile?"
----The Chautauquan Daily, v. XXXIX, No. 19 (July 24, 1914)
----Vaughan, Dr. David D. "Dreams Open the Gate to Dollars." The Lyceum Magazine, Vol. XXXVII, No. 1 (June 1927), reprint
----Chautauqua Talk, Canadian Chautauqua Service, Program for Whitewood, Saskatchewan, July 11-14, 1927
----Marion Chautauqua News and The Community Builder, Published by the Redpath Chautauquas, Seven Day Chautauqua Circuit Edition, June 1923 program
----Miscellaneous newspaper clippings, 1923, 1927; covers Jacksonville Boys' Brass Band, Dr. Henry Goddard Leach

Programs from Chautauqua Bureaus other than Swarthmore
----Antrim Lyceum Bureau, Philadelphia, 1928-1929 season
----Camdean Platform, 1923, Williamstown August 8 to 12
----Canadian Chautauquas
------Craigmyle, November 20-23, [n.y.]
------Scotsguard, October 4-7, 1930
------Vilna, Alberta, August 10-14, 1929
------Warkworth, July 17-22, 1931
----Chautauqua Association Incorporated, New Zealand Chautauqua, Auckland, January 12-16, 1922
----Coit-Alber Service, The Victory Chautauqua, Waverly, July 4-8, 1919
----Collins Management Services, 1929, 1940, 2 undated programs
----Community Chautauquas
------Elsie, July 7-11, [n.y.]
------Nashville, July 9-14, [n.y.]
------Plato, October 31, November 1-3
------Sanford, July 10-14, 1916
----Dalevill Chautauqua, June 4-10, [n.y.]
----Dominion Chautauqua, Macklin, July 30-August 5 [n.y.]
----Ellison-White
------Chautauqua Festival, Shelby, October 13-18 [n.y.]
------Great Falls Chautauqua, August 5-11, 1916
------Lyceum Series [n.d.]
------Promotional brochures [n.d.] (2)
------Promotional brochures, 1926 (2). One blank as to place; the other for Conrad, July 29-August 3
----Fountain Park Assembly, August 11-26, 1923(2) (one copy more extensive)
----Horner Chautauquas, Plano, Begins June 28 [n.y.]
----Independent Chautauquas
------Alton, July 9-13, 1928; July 13-17, 1929; July 13-17, 1930; July 22-26, 1931
------Barry, August 20-25, 1928
----Pittsburgh Central Circle, April 2, 1885
----Radcliffe, Washington D.C.
------Erath, April 13-15 [n.y.]
------Pearsall, February 28-March 3 [n.y.]
------Poolesville, August 13-15 [n.y.]
------Winchester, June 29-July 1, 1927
------Poster, undated, of season's talent
----Redpath Bureau
------Athens, Alabama, 1925, 1926
------Castle Rock, July 27-20, 1930
------Clemons, July 13-16, 1903
------Goldsboro, May 27-31, [n.y.]
------Nashville, Tennessee, October 4, 5, 7 [n.y.]
------Promotional brochure, 1915, 191?
------Waynesburg, Ohio, August 16-22, 1918
------Westmoreland-Free, August 10-13, 1930
----Scorer Lyceum Bureau of Philadelphia, 1914-1915
----Southern Oregon Chautauqua Association, July 10-22, 1897
----Unidentified bureaus and miscellaneous brochures
------Avon Chautauqua, August 19-23, 1923 (2)
------Brownstown Chautauqua, August 4-10, [n.y.]
------Byron W. King's School of Oratory: Spring term, May 1906; Summer Session [n.y.]
------Chautauqua Program booklet, 1914
------Eureka Chautauqua, August 12-19, 1923
------Independence Chautauqua, July 22, [n.y.]
------Jewett City, July 16-19, 1929
------Kingfield, October 8-10, 1929-1930
------Perdue Chautauqua, October 25-27, [n.y.]
------Philipsburg, June 13-17, 1929
------1929-1930, Sample program (3)
----Western Pennsylvania Exposition Society, Season of 1901

Publications
----Chautauquan, Chautauqua Press, Chautauqua, New York
------Vol. 61: No.3 (February 1911)
------Vol. 68, No. 1 (September 1912)
------Vol. 69, No. 3 (February 1913)
----Literature and the Larger Life, Chautauqua Press, Chautauqua, New York. [n.d.]
----Lyceum World, Indianapolis, Indiana. Vol. VI: No. 2 (May 1913)

Swarthmore Chautauqua Association Programs
----1919: three day and five day Guarantor's edition
----1920: six day Guarantor's edition
----1921: Tenth Anniversary: six day (3 copies, all different); five day Guarantor's edition
----1921-1922: Locust Gap, three day
----1922: five day (2 copies, each different); six day
----1923: five day (2 copies, one of which is Guarantor's edition); six day (2 copies, both Guarantor's edition but each is different); partial copy
----1924: five day (1 complete copy, one partial copy)
----1924-1925: Guarantor's edition, 3 copies, all different
----1925: five day (2 copies, each different); seven day Guarantor's edition (2 copies, each different); Crisfield, June 12-17, five day (2 copies); Du Bois, August 14-20, seven day; Dunsmore or Dunmore, July 29-August 4, seven day; Fredericksburg, July 7-13, seven day; Greenfield, July 10-16, seven day; Norristown, June 18-24, seven day; Portsmouth, June 13-19, seven day; Townsend, July 14-19, five day (2 copies)
----1925-1926: three day; Guarantor's edition; Chincoteague, September 21-23
----1926: Chestertown, August 26-September 1, seven day; Columbiana, August 4-9, five day; Concordville, September 23-26, three day; Danforth, October 16-19, three day; Elkland, Osceola, Nelson, August 13-18, five day; Swarthmore, June 9-15, seven day; Toms River, August 23-27, five day
----1927: promotional brochure, seven day; Bradford, September 28-30, three day; Canton, August 1-7, seven day; Christiansburg, June 13-17, five day; Easton, August 25-30, six day; Lovettsville, September 20-22, three day; Mifflinburg, August 17-22, six day; Pine Grove Mills, October 1 to 4, three day; Port Jefferson, August 11-16, six day; Washington, July 22-28, seven day.
----1928: three day, Guarantor's edition; five day Promotional (2 copies); seven day Promotional; Gloucester, June 23-28, five day; Lovington, April 13, 14, 16, 17, four day; Swarthmore, June 9-15, seven day (2 copies, each different)
----Undated, three day (2 copies, each different)

Swarthmore Chautauqua guidelines
----Gamble, Ernest. "How Swarthmore Does It." Typed copy of article that appeared in The Lyceum Magazine, September 1922.
----Listing of policy of the Swarthmore Chautauqua Association relative to luncheon club programs

Talent Brochures/Ads
----Applesauce; verso--Richard Davis, Magician
----Elsie Baker, Contralto; verso--Russian Cathedral Choir; John Temple Graves (2 copies)
---- WIlliam Sterling Battis in "Life Portrayals," with Musical Program by Oceanic Ladies' Quintet; verso--Percival Vivian Players in William Shakespeare's As You Like It
----Fink's Hussars Militaire; Alex B. Macdonald; verso--Carlo Fisher Trio (2 copies)
----William Keighley and His Broadway Players in Captain Applejack; verso--Charles Howard Plattenburg
----Keighley Players in The Witching Hour; verso--Ruth Bryan Owen
----Bohumir Kryl and His Band, June 1 to September 15, 1917
----Mildred-Leo Clemens offers "Happy Hawaii"
----"Capt. Jack" Crawford, "The Poet Scout"
----Give and Take, verso--The Russian Cathedral Quartet
----The Gondoliers
----The Gondoliers; verso--Give and Take
----Hassler Concert Company, 1904-1905
----The Meanest Man in the World; verso--Brush, The Great Magician
----Mischakoff String Quartet, two programs: July 26, 1928; August 2, 1928
----Moslem Temple Shrine Band and Smith-Spring-Holmes Orchestral Quintet, March 25, 1920
----Park Sisters Quartet and Miss Adele Weber; verso--Star Lyceum Bureau 1898-1899 Season listing of talent
----Russian Cathedral Quartet; verso--Captain Applejack
----Smith-Spring-Holmes Orchestral Quintet
----So This is London (5 copies); verso differs with each copy and includes Junior Chautauqua Patriotic-Historical Pageant "America Triumphant"; Fink's Hussars Militaire
----Strange Bedfellows; verso--Dr. E. B. Mac Dowell and Vierra's Original Hawaiian's (2 copies)
----Sue Ernest Hewling's Rainbow Orchestra; verso--Burgderfer and Strange Bedfellows
----Tommy; verso--"The Importance of Health"
----Turn to the Right; verso--"I am the Chautauqua"
----Vierra's Original Hawaiians; verso--Dr. Edward Burton Mac Dowell
----What Happened to Jones, playing at Woodbine Chautauqua, August 26, 1921; Lithia Springs Chautauqua, September 1, 1921
----The Crusading Commoner, reviews of book about William Jennings Bryan by Dr. Charles McDaniel Rosser
----Earthly Footsteps of The Man of Galilee, article on a book by Bishop John H. Vincent and Rev. James W. Lee

Four bound volumes of Chautauqua talent brochures, compiled by Fred High. Located at end of Redpath Chautauqua collection. All of these have been digitized and are included with the remainder of the online talent brochures.