En cuanto al código 7011085, ambos recurrentes no fueron considerados porque “Oferta un precio mayor al de la sociedad recomendada”

The Florida Chautauqua rebounded slightly with the twenty- fourth session in 1908. The length expanded by one week to seven weeks. The purpose of the session, given in the opening paragraphs of the printed program, expanded upon that given in 1907. The promoters see the schedule of events as responding to the

growing demand for a better and more instructive class of entertainment and illustrated lectures on travel, as well as popular lectures on vital subjects, while interpretative readings from the masters of standard and modem literature, interspersed with musical features by the famous artists emphasize the

importance of the fine arts in modem culture (The Florida

Chautauqua, 1908,1).

This goal still reflected the emphasis on entertainment identified in earlier Chautauqua sessions, but modified it with educational and cultural aspects. The platform was to reflect a “more instructive class of entertainment,” while including the “masters o f . . . literature” and

emphasizing “the importance of fine arts in modem culture." The definition was an attempt to create a more refined cultural text. The promoters could no longer rely on an uninformed or uninitiated clientele. The management had to adjust offerings to reflect the change. The audience had education and increased exposure to cultural goods. By the time the Florida Chautauqua began February 12, the Pensacola Opera House had already presented fourteen events since January 1 (Bilbo, 149).

Perhaps one of the most notable features of the printed program in 1908 is the announcement of the commencement of construction on the new auditorium with a seating capacity of four thousand. In

announcing the auditorium (discussed more fully in chapter 2), the promoters hailed this session as “the beginning of a much wider outlook of future development” (The Florida Chautauqua, 1908, 1). Their intent is not fully clear. The reference may be to the shift in emphasis already noted as well as an attempt by the directors of the

Florida Chautauqua to revitalize waning interest and attendance at the sessions.

The introductory paragraph of the educational department expressed a renewed interest in the religious aspect of the

Chautauqua. Normally the paper used this paragraph to promote the great teachers and the tremendous personal enrichment opportunities afforded through the class work. While the paragraph included

assurance that competent teachers handled the class work, the bulk of the long paragraph detailed the religious training available through the Florida Chautauqua.

Special emphasis is laid, as in the past, on the Biblical Hour, which has played so great a part in our Chautauqua life, and the Sunday Morning Service, the nucleus and bulwark of the great Chautauqua throughout our land, has become a beacon light of truth and spiritual hope, not only to the tourists who visit the Chautauqua each winter and the people of the surrounding district who drive many miles in the early Sabbath mom to attend our morning service but also of patrons and visitors along the entire line of the P. & A. division, who remain over Sunday for the express purpose of hearing the great exponents of Christ’s

words, and carrying back to their respective communities the highest inspiration of our Chautauqua life--the abiding influence of Christian thought (The Florida Chautauqua, 1908, 5)

This paragraph highlights the renewed interest in the religious

foundations of the Florida Chautauqua, also evident in the program of the 1907 session. These statements reveal an interesting

contradiction: while this paragraph heralded the great influence of the religious services on Sunday morning, relating them to the early years of the assembly, no words explained the elimination of the Sunday evening activities. Indeed, this emphasis may have been a means to offset any opposition to the move to lessen Sunday religious activities.

The course offerings also reflected the early trend of offering different subjects each year dependent upon available instructors. During the late 1890’s and early 1900’s the coursework had been standardized somewhat until the 1907 session. The 1908 session offered the standard course in music with the exception of no chorus. The Literature department continued Kenneth Bruce’s lecture series on Shakespeare’s plays supplemented by a series of interpretative recitals of other works. The assembly offered the department of Elocution and Expression but under a different format. Instead of organized classes in vocal work, the managers made the various readers featured under the Literature department available for private instruction if anyone desired lessons. For the first time, the printed program advertised the

department as “closely allied to the course in literature” (The Florida

Chautauqua, 1908, 7). The travelogue popular in the early years of the

session made a reappearance as a department of instruction. The assembly offered photography again as well. A new feature of the

1908 session of classwork was the Press Club. With a journalistic emphasis, the club gave members the opportunity to write on various topics, lectures, and entertainments for newspapers throughout the country. The assembly continued the children’s department with the theme “The Chautauqua Knights.” The teachers organized the children as knights and taught nature study and engaged in a variety of

activities. Pearl Carpenter presented another activity for children, listed under classwork as the story-telling hour.

The beginning of Palmer College supplemented the educational offerings of the Florida Chautauqua. This Presbyterian college, in its

first year of work, offered an academy curriculum for parents who did not want children to fall behind in coursework while at the February session. College work had not begun at Palmer College yet, although plans were underway to start offering work toward an A.B. degree.

The performance text shows signs of the fluidity of the session. This program severely limited educational lectures, previously a

prominent part of past programs, with only eleven general lectures and six literary lectures. The schedule included almost seventy different entertainment events. In addition to the daily Bible hour, the session had twenty one other religious activities, primarily Sunday services. It is interesting that for the first time the Sunday sermon notice not only listed the individual delivering the sermon but also the musician. This shift in presentation gave the Sunday services a slight entertainment quality as well.

The 1908 session seems to represent an assembly in search of an identity and direction. The nearly standardized programs of the early part of this decade have been replaced by programs with few elements of stability from one to the other. The scheduling of this assembly represents an apparent attempt to link the current Chautauqua with the earlier Chautauquas in emphasis.

The reason for the shift is unclear. The same management was in place as during the lengthy 1906 session with its numerous

performers and lecturers. The tenor of the opening paragraph

regarding the schedule events, gives the impression that the assembly was not basing programming on the tastes of “refined people" as it did during the early part of the century, but instead the management was

again making programming decisions as the arbiters of culture themselves. The program supposedly emphasized “the fine arts in modem culture,” possibly a response to the increasingly vaudeville nature of entertainment in recent years. As the goods offered by the Florida Chautauqua became increasingly more commonplace and accessible, they become less economically profitable for the assembly management. The cultural situation was changing in Northwest Florida and the Florida Chautauqua was floundering in its attempt to identify goods that had commercial value.

1909

February 3 - March 27