Book2 Book 3 Book4
13 - Mays, Marie Virginia "Orlo Lea" Our Family Complete Family List Return To Main Family Site
Laughead, Marie Virginia "Orlo Lea"
Trip to Georgia and Florida Denver-1917
Photos from
her time in
The
Chautauqua (Link is a
short history)
Book2
Book 3
Book4
What was Chautauqua? Theodore Roosevelt called it "the most American thing in America," Woodrow Wilson described it during World War I as an "integral part of the national defense," and William Jennings Bryan deemed it a "potent human factor in molding the mind of the nation." Conversely, Sinclair Lewis derided it as "nothing but wind and chaff and...the laughter of yokels," William James found it "depressing from its mediocrity," and critic Gregory Mason dismissed it as "infinitely easier than trying to think." However Chautauqua was characterized, it elicited strong reactions and emotions.