Because of the success of the New York Chautauqua, this idea was replicated across America. “Daughter Chautauquas” were independent Chautauquas that were created to replicate the original Chautauqua. Towns turned city parks and vacant land into miniature Chautauquas modeled after the one in New York. Several hundred of these existed into the 1920s.
However, not all towns could afford to replicate the New York Chautauqua. This gave rise to Circuit or Tent Chautauquas. Traveling speakers and entertainers would spend a week staging a Chautauqua in one town and then move to the next. Historians have documented that as many as 10,000 Chautauquas were conducted annually in communities across America during the 1910-1925 era. It was a big deal.
Since many of the independent and tent Chautauquas were located in rural areas, it is not surprising to learn that farming and agriculture features were added to the traditional lecture and entertainment programming. One such feature was “farm camp” for both boys and girls.
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Figure 1. The Auditorium at the Clarinda, Iowa Chautauqua located in Page County, Iowa.
Learning about Farming in the Chautauqua Farm Camp
Jesse Fields, the first female superintendent of schools in Iowa and early 4-H leader, persuaded the Clarinda Chautauqua to establish a farm camp for boys and girls as part of the Chautauqua program. The youth learned about agriculture and home economics in the morning, and they participated in social and recreational activities in the afternoon and were welcome at all Chautauqua events.
Figure 2. An advertisement for the Clarinda, Iowa Chautauqua featuring a Farm Camp for Boys and Girls. From the Tingley {IA) Vindicator, July 23, 1914. The ”Watch for the Chautauqua Air Ship” indicates that some type of airship was to fly over the downtowns of several towns and drop leaflets and some free tickets to the Chautauqua.
The Clarinda Chautauqua was established in 1896. The first Farm Camp for boys was in 1910. It was so successful that a camp for girls known as The Camp of the Golden Maids was added a year later. Faculty in agriculture and home economics from Iowa State College staffed the camps. In the morning the boy campers were instructed in topics such as handling gas engines, soil erosion and other related subjects: animal industry, including judging, feeds and feeding and rope tying. At one camp the boys learned about wireless radio. The girls received instruction in cooking, sewing, and managing the farm home.
In the afternoons there were recreational activities. There were a variety of competitions in activities such as corn judging, baseball and baking. The campers with the neatest tents also received recognition.
The cost for the 10 day camp in 1922 was $8.50 and that included a ticket for all Chautauqua events. An article about the farm camps from 1912 is in Figure 3.
Figure 3. The Evening Nonpareil (Council Bluffs, Iowa) August 27, 1912.
The Boy’s Farm Camp and the Camp of the Golden Maids gained national publicity. In Figure 3 we learned that a variety of educational leaders had visited the camp and were taking notes. One of the visitors was W. K. Tate, state rural school supervisor in South Carolina. He wrote about his observations in an article published in The World’s Magazine (May 1912) titled “A Country School for Country Children.
Prof. R. K. Bliss and Prof. Murl McDonald of Ames offer short courses in stock judging and in corn and grain judging. From the boys who take this course, teams are selected and sent to take the agricultural short course offered at the state college of agriculture in January. The Page County team has won the state trophy in corn judging for two years in succession, and hopes next January to win it for the third time and thus to keep it permanently. The boys who go to Ames come back to the county and help teach the younger boys who will later hold up the banner of Page County.
The boys’ camp was such a success that the people thought they must have a camp for the girls also. They called it “The Camp of the Golden Maids.” The girls at the camp study cooking and sewing under Mrs. Knowles and Miss Campbell of the state college. The county cooking team was selected and sent to the state college for the short course, and, as you may easily guess, brought home the state cooking trophy.
The Country Gentleman featured the camps in their June 29, 1912 issue. One of the interesting sports activities described was the “pillow pole.” Campers sat on a horizontal pole elevated about two feet off the ground, facing each other. Each camper had a pillow and tried to dislodge the opponent. Both boys and girls participated in this activity. However, most of the article was about the more serious learning that was occurring in the domestic sciences and agriculture.
Figure 4. The headline and images from The Country Gentleman (June 29, 1912) of the Clarinda Chautauqua Boys Farm Camp and the Golden Maids. The girls are making aprons and the boys are judging pigs.
In Hugh Orchard’s seminal work Fifty Years of Chautauqua published in 1923 he states (p. 71):
One of the outstanding features of the Clarinda Chautauqua is the Farm Camp for boys. The agricultural college at Ames furnishes the instructors, and a large number of farmer boys are encamped on the grounds for the full period of the assembly. Several successful young farmers have already established themselves in the community who testify that they got the foundation of their enthusiasm and success at the Chautauqua Boys Farm. A similar camp; is maintained for farm girls, under the name of The Camp of the Golden Maids.
A United States Bureau of Education bulletin (Bulletin 1914, No, 37) titled Education for the Home describes the Golden Maids and Farm Camp at the Clarinda Chautauqua
One of the most interesting school camps is the “Farm Camp and Camp of the Golden Maids” organized by the county superintendent of Page County, Iowa, established in 1909, and opened for girls in 1911. In 1913, 220 students attended, including 75 or 80 girls. There is a 10-day program of lessons in the forenoon, and the afternoon is given over to sports, social enterprises, and the lectures at the Chautauqua where the camp meets. The girls’ work includes lessons in cooking and sewing from instructors of the State college; also personal hygiene, canning clubs’ demonstrations, and social activities. Contest work is introduced with prizes for neatness, sewing, bread making, and athletics. The boys as well as the girls learn the mysteries of dish washing and sanitation at the camp.
The Chautauqua Farm Camp Idea Spreads
A Farm Camp for boys was also found at several Chautauquas in the Midwest. Other groups such as Farm Bureaus, Agricultural Societies, Kiwanis Clubs, Boys’ Clubs and various state fairs started Farm Camps based on the success of the Clarinda Chautauqua camp experience. During World War I several states such as New York started Farm Camps, but these were primarily to provide labor for farmers.
Figure 5. From the Buffalo (NY) News, August 12, 1927. This camp was sponsored by the Farm Bureau and YMCA. The article (Experiment in Camp for Farm Boys Proves Success) that accompanied the photo indicated the boys learned rope work, culling poultry, and judging cattle during their four days at the camp and that it would be repeated next year.
Concluding Remarks
While I have no definitive proof that the Clarinda Chautauqua Farm Camp had any influence on the establishment of 4-H and FFA camps, there is a possibility that it did. The widespread publicity about the Chautauqua Farm Camp was hard to miss in the early 1910s-1920s. When the FFA officially came into existence in 1928, FFA camps followed shortly and some even preceded that date (check out this past Friday Footnote).
In 1929 the first FFA camp in Iowa was held at an established Boy Scout Camp. One hundred and five FFA members and their instructors attended the camp. H. M. Byram and A. H. Hausrath from Iowa State College planned the program. The boys visited some livestock and grain farms where actual farm practices were observed. They also had classes in nature lore and even played “kitten ball” (don’t ask me). See Figure 5.
Figure 6. Left image – The Courier, Waterloo, Iowa August 8, 1929’ Center Image – Des Moines Register, August 15, 1929; Right Image – Ames (IA) Tribune, August 13, 1929.
A 1910 (October 4) newspaper article with the headlines “Iowa Farm Boys Have the Time of Their Lives in Camp” in The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington quoted one boy as saying, “Since attending the Boy’ Farm Camp I have concluded that there is no business which can beat farming. I hope to attend the camp each year as long as I am a boy, and then I hope to be a successful farmer.”
If it were not for Mother Chautauqua in New York, there would not have been a daughter Chautauqua in Clarinda, Iowa. And if the Clarinda Chautauqua had not existed, there would not have been the Farm Camps. As a result of the Clarinda Chautauqua Farm Camp, numerous young men enrolled in Iowa State College to study agriculture.
A question we need to ask ourselves is what type of impact are we having on our students? The Chautauqua Farm Camp made an impact. We should also.
Lagniappe (look it up if you don’t know what it means)
In the article W. K. Tate wrote (cited above) he stated the corn judges from Page County were seeking a 3rd straight title in the state corn judging contest. They did win a 3rd time and were awarded the trophy on a permanent basis. However the boys voted to return the trophy as an incentive for next year. They won the competition for the next two years and decided to finally keep the trophy.
The Page County corn judges won the corn judging contest at Omaha’s International Corn Show and were awarded a Brush Runabout automobile. They decided to give the car to Ms. Fields. In the photo below Ms. Fields is driving the car, The man sitting next to her is the Massachusetts Secretary of Education who was visiting to learn more about the Farm Camp.
