With the 1893 session, organizers returned to the initial format of printed booklets for the Chautauqua program. They produced a small, eight-page document for the tenth annual session held February 22 through March 26, 1893.5 j h e cover features a photograph of the Hotel Chautauqua on the banks of Lake De Funiak with a caption designed to entice the reader. “A Delightful Place. Good Hotel Accommodations. No Mosquitoes or Malaria. Excellent Drainage, Pure Water. A Brilliant Programme, Eloquent Lectures, First-class Music” (The Florida Chautauqua, 1893, 1). The commerciality of the assembly program is immediately evident on the inside cover, which featureed the table of excursion rates for the Louisville and Nashville Railway and three accompanying ads for Webster’s Dictionary, the Chautauqua Circle, and Ice and Refrigerating Machines.
The printed material of the program gave the same basic
information as previous programs. The initial material gave history and
51893 was the ninth year for the assembly. For unknown
reasons, the booklet claims this to be the tenth session. Promoters may have been counting 1884, the year inital plans for the assembly were made.
provided a setting for the Assembly. The program indicated that the town of De Funiak Springs now boasted a population of eight hundred, “good general stores, several fine hotels, excellent public graded school, two beautiful churches and a large number of neat and even elegant homes" (The Florida Chautauqua, 1893, 3). The village was also the home of the State Normal School for whites.
The program contained little specific information about the
grounds and buildings of the assembly other than a description in detail of the lake and the surrounding banks, which were viewed as a major selling point for the Florida Chautauqua, since the physical plant was otherwise limited.
One interesting article in the front matter of the program is the obituary of Dr. A. H. Gillet. Dr. Gillet, one of the original planners of the assembly and an active participant and superintendent to this point, passed away in De Funiak Springs on January 1, 1893. He had finished all preparations for the coming assembly prior to his death.
Additional material in the program provided short sketches about the performers and lecturers scheduled for the assembly. In each case, the performer or lecturer received a sterling review, apparently in order to assure the reader of the quality of the program and therefore of the benefit and value of attendance. For example, Miss Augusta Margert Geotz, a mezzo soprano scheduled to sing, is promoted as “one of the best singers we have ever been able to bring to De Funiak, except for special occasions.” Madame Per Dahl, a soprano, “is not announced for any service that she does not fill the building where she sings.” The program summarized six evenings of elocutionary entertainment
declaring “[w]e have hardly ever had greater richness and variety in our elocutionary department than this year'’ (The Florida Chautauqua,
1893, 6).
All of the written materials served much the same purpose as the dust jacket of a major novel, designed to tempt the reader to invest time and monetary value to acquire the full benefit of a complete reading. In the case of the Florida Chautauqua, that reading was attendance at the assembly and its various sessions. If the dust jacket does not evoke enough interest in the entire novel, then the commercial viability of the entire project is in question.
The program for the 1893 session was limited in scope and number of meetings. While advertisements announced a term from February 22 through March 25, non-assembly activities dominated the last week. The Florida State Teachers’ Association convention
occupied Tuesday, March 21, through Thursday, March 23. An excursion to Pensacola completely filled Friday, March 24. The only activity on Saturday, March 26, was a closing concert at 8:00 p.m.
The 1893 session offered organized classes in Music (Chorus, Sight-Reading, Voice Training), Fine Art, Decoration Art, China
Painting, French, and German, but did not mention coursework in Sunday school Normal, Kindergarten, Normal School training, or elocution as seen in 1888. While the session length was similar to the length of the 1888 session, the overall content of the program appears to have suffered in the intervening years. Not only were coursework offerings down but also the popular travelogues were fewer in 1893 (five as compared to eighteen the first year). Musical entertainment
was also down from the early years of the program, although the number of elocutionary/ reading-type programs was comparable or slightly higher. This year included twenty general lecture sessions as compared to twenty-eight in the 1888 program, and considerably fewer programs of a religious nature were in the 1893 program as well.
The reasons for the sparse program presented in 1893 are difficult to pinpoint. The lack of complete printed programs between 1888 and 1893 prevents the analysis of a trend. The program probably represents a trend and behavior among the general population.
Economic downturns in the early 1890’s may have prevented the staging of lavish (and expensive) programs, as well as discouraged individuals from investing time and money in what might be viewed as an unnecessary activity. The fact that there was no session for 1894 following the economic depression of 1893 supports this conclusion. The eleventh session of the Florida Chautauqua convened in 1895.