The advertising materials that form the bulk of the collection afford a unique perspective for examining change in a particular subject over time. Because promotional literature tends toward sensationalized rhetoric that reinforces an audience's expectations, researchers can use these documents to form impressions of popular tastes and culturally significant political trends. Of particular use are documents that deal with foreign relations and public opinion.

For example, the Subject Index heading, Communism and Russia, yields numerous documents from three decades that form a picture of the rise of the Soviet Union and evolving U.S. sentiments.

In 1912, Count Alexander M. Lochwitzsky offered to deliver his lecture "A Russian Nobleman's Story of Siberian Escape and Exile," which detailed the abuses in czarist Russia. By 1920, however, with the communists in power, audiences were offered an appearance by Princess Radziwell, an exiled member of the Russian royal family who could speak with authority on the deplorable political situation in her homeland as well as on the personalities and mannerisms of European royalty.

• What changes had taken place between the time of Lochwitzsky and Radziwell's experiences?
• How might Lochwitzsky's and Radziwell's opinions of Russian monarchy differ? How might the opinions of their audiences have differed with respect to the Russian Revolution and the rise of Bolshevism?
• Why would democracy-loving Americans be interested in Lochwitzsky's criticisms of monarchy? Why would the same audiences be interested in Princess Radziwell's intimate knowledge of European aristocrats?

In the 1930s, former Russian premier Alexander Kerensky was available to audiences to explain the disastrous ramifications of the pro-democracy position that he took while head of Russia's provisional, revolutionary government. In 1940, audiences could engage Freda Utley for her lecture "The Dream We Lost: Soviet Russia Then and Now." Utley offered to explain her early love of communism, her move to Russia, her marriage to a communist, and her life in that country for six years before her husband's arrest and her own disillusionment with Stalin's regime. And, in the 1950s, with the Cold War in full swing, Hede Massing the former Soviet spy and intelligence expert, was a featured speaker.

A perusal of the collection's Subject Index headings imparts a sense of the enormous scope of circuit Chautauqua and the important role that it played in the development of the American character. Chautauqua took pride in providing programs that appealed to both the intellect and the humor. Circuit Chautauqua may have been the first time in history that an individual could hear an accordianist, ask questions of a travel expert newly returned from Malaysia, and view a zoologist's slide show -- all under the same tent!

Prominent politicians, internationally known writers, explorers, businessmen, and social workers delivered their messages from Chautauqua tents and, as in the case of men such as William Jennings Bryan and Warren G. Harding, achieved fame first as Chautauqua speakers. The Subject Index heading, Presidents - United States, yields five documents including a 1916 list of lecture topics by former President William H. Taft.

• What groups would be likely to retain Taft as a speaker?
• Do the speech topics present a wide variety of subjects?
• Do you think that Taft's audiences would have found him more or less trustworthy because of his political career?
• Why would a former president want to go on the Chautauqua circuit? What does this say about the stature of Chautauqua at the time?

Subject Index heading,Ticket, directs the researcher to a pass for the Mary Garden Summer Chautauqua and Winter Forum. The disclaimers and guarantees printed on the ticket are indicative of Chautauqua promotional rhetoric and reveal a great deal about the expectations of the audience.

• What is the target audience of the Dominion program advertisement? How does the promoter appeal to its audience?
• What does the rhetoric of the Dominion program and Mary Garden pass suggest about the role that Chautauqua played in American communities?
• What does the Mary Garden pass claim that its Chautauqua supports? What values are associated with Chautauqua?
• What impact would you expect the arrival of a Chautauqua to have had upon a community?
• What do these items suggest about the character and expectations of Chautauqua audiences?
• What can we learn about Chautauqua from these items that we could not from a secondary source?
• What current modes of communication couch their claims in unbiased, community-based rhetoric?

From Chautauqua's earliest days, companies of African-American "jubilee" singers were immensely popular attractions. Most of these performances featured a group of singers and musicians performing slave songs of the pre-Civil War South, in some cases with period backdrops and costumes. Oftentimes, the groups would also perform selections from popular Broadway "negro productions" such as "Showboat" and "Porgy and Bess." Groups such as the Fisk Jubilee Singers performed to raise money for their institution (Tennesee's Fisk University) while other groups such as the Southern Jubilee Singers and Players did so as a profession.

Chautauqua Jubilee performances tended to package African-American culture in caricatures and stereotypes that reflected the white audience's expectations and that persisted as popular images until the 1950s and the birth of the Civil Rights movement. By searching on keyword, jubilee, researchers have access to scores of materials relating to African-American performances.

The promotional literature for the Jackson Jubilee Singers is typical:

There is a subtle witchery in negro singing that charms an American audience. Even when negro voices are untrained, when the harmony is forced, negro melodies have a charm that is all there own. The race in America, through the years of slavery and later years of irresponsible freedom has had a leaven of humor and care-free abandon in their lives and relationship with each other. The rhythm and character of their songs are a relic and inheritance in which are blended joy, superstition, and religion.

By the 1920s, many jubilee companies began to consist all or in part of white performers wearing blackface makeup. This occurred because bureaus could cut costs by borrowing talent from different shows and because the practice was already popular on Broadway and the vaudeville circuits.

A search on keyword, blackface, yields several documents including materials concerning the Manning Glee Club. The materials feature several comments from former audiences members, one of whom remarks:

The second part was entitled "Half Hour with the Old Time Minstrels." There was the regulation circle, but the old-time feature of having all the men in black face was missing. Fred H. Lawton as tambo, and Elmer Millard, as bones, were in black face and fancy costume, and carried off the honors . . . There was a spirit and a hearty good will in the singing of the negro melodies that won the sympathy of the audience.

For many rural Americans in the early twentieth century, circuit Chautauqua was a key component of their lives. For these people, the traveling culture show provided exactly what its promoters claimed --education, uplift, and entertainment at a fair price. Through the aegis of circuit Chautauqua, far-flung communities enjoyed Broadway musicals and talks by internationally known personages.

Circuit Chautauqua, however, was not without critics. In 1920, Sinclair Lewis wrote that instead of offering real education, circuit Chautauqua "seemed to be a combination of vaudeville performances, Y.M.C.A. lectures, and graduation exercises of an elocution class." In 1924, at the height of Chautauqua's popularity, Bruce Bliven wrote in The New Republic that Chautauqua demonstrated the "mental poverty of Main Street."

This collection offers the opportunity to consider the question of the value of Chautauqua and to form conclusions based on its numerous materials. By observing changes in style and substance, researchers can also better understand how circuit Chautauqua affected and/or was affected by popular tastes.

The collection lends itself well to research of American advertising as a component of the country's broader culture. Through the Chautauqua materials, researchers can explore a unique, American phenomenon that left its imprint upon all forms of mass communication and entertainment that followed it, including radio, television, and the Internet.

Not only do the materials themselves constitute a collection of pertinent artifacts, but several items promote lectures on contemporary sales techniques and business practices.

For example, Harry "Gatling Gun" Fogelman was available to deliver talks such as "Finding the Customer" and "The Power of Suggestion in Advertising and Salesmanship."

Under the Subject Index heading, Salesmen and salesmanship, are materials for Frank Pryor Myers and his lecture topics including "The Law of Suggestion," "Importance of the Emotional Appeal," and "Buying Motives and Inhibitions."

• According to the numerous examples in this collection, what promotional techniques were most prevalent in the Chautauqua business?
• Why might these techniques be especially suited to Chautauqua? Would these techniques be effective for other sorts of promotions? Why or why not?
• According to the materials on speeches about advertising and salesmanship, what advertising techniques were being used in the early twentieth century? Are these techniques still popular today?