Education /
Heritage Lecture Series
Presented by the
Chautauqua Institution Archives
When: 3:30 p.m.,
Tuesdays and Thursdays
Where: Hall of Christ
(unless otherwise noted)
The Heritage Lecture Series, presented by Chautauqua Institution Archives, combines the research of Archives staff with notable historians and Chautauqua scholars in order to explore the rich history of Chautauqua and its effect on American culture.
Week One
Tuesday June 25
Discovering George Eastman : A Kodak moment
Steve Piper, academic and popular Chautauquan speaker
Friday June 28
Chautauqua Caught on Film
Marlie Bendiksen, Research Assistant at the Institution Archives and Jared Jacobsen, Institution Organist
Week Two
Tuesday July 2
Hymns Dead or Alive? The power of the Spirit
Marlie Bendiksen, Research Assistant at the Institution Archives and Jared Jacobsen, Institution Organist
Friday July 5
Don’t Give Up the Ship!: Recounting the Battle of Lake Erie 200 years later
Captain Walter Rybka, Curator of the Erie Maritime Museum and Senior Captain of the US Brig Niagara
Week Three
Saturday July 6 | 12:30 p.m., Hall of Philosophy
The Hardtack Regiment at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg >(with the Descendents of the New York 154th)
Lecture by Mark Dunkelman, Regimental Historian, with Introduction by Jon Schmitz, Institution Archivist and Historian.
Monday July 8 | 2 p.m., Hall of Philosophy
Emancipating Lincoln
Harold Holzer, Chair of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation and author of 43 books on Lincoln and his era, including Emancipating Lincoln and Lincoln (the official companion book to the Steven Spielberg film. This lecture is presented by the Partnership Trust of the New York State Archives, the Department of the Religion and the Institution Archives.
Monday July 8 | 4 p.m., Hall of Philosophy
Benjamin Disraeli
Adam Kirsch, author and literary critic and contributing editor for Tablet Magazine
Friday July 12
Jane Addams
Louise Knight, author, lecturer and historian and biographer of Jane Addams
Week Four
Tuesday July 16
Cleveland’s AL Engel and the Chautauqua Lake Air Mail
Ed Evans, journalist and historian
Amelia Earhart’s Visit to Chautauqua
Jon Schmitz, Institution Archivist and Historian
Friday July 19
Democracy in the Making : The Open Forum Lecture Movement
Arthur Solomon Meyers, author, historian and librarian
Week Five
Tuesday July 23
The PBS Documentary : Chautauqua, an American Narrative
With David Rotterman, WNED – TV Buffalo/Toronto. This showing of the documentary with discussion to follow is presented by WNED, C-SAAHN Buffalo, and the Institution Archives
Friday July 26
Putting CULTURE into AgriCULTURE : The influence of the travelling chautauquas on the American farmer
Prof. Gary Moore, University of North Carolina State and President of the Association of Career and Technical Education
Week Six
Tuesday July 30
The Shearman-Davis Murders : First unsolved murder in Chautauqua County
Norman Carlson, The Fenton History Center, Jamestown, New York
Friday August 2
Ben Hur in American Culture
Prof. Jon Solomon, University of Illinois
Week Seven
Tuesday August 6
Gettysburg
Andrew Masich, President and CEO of the Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh
Friday August 9
Making Woman’s History : Chautauqua and the local Suffrage Movement
Prof. Traci Langworthy, Jamestown Community College
Week Eight
Tuesday August 13
The Chautauqua Movement : Its origins and rise
Jon Schmitz, Institution Archivist and Historian
Friday August 16
The Chautauqua Movement : Its demise and resurgence
Jon Schmitz, Institution Archivist and Historian
Week Nine
Tuesday August 20
Historical Perspectives on Jehova’s Witnesses’ Refusal of Blood transfusion
Dr Max E. Rohrbaugh, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh UPMC. (With an introduction by Jon Schmitz on the comparison of healthcare in Canada and the US)
Friday August 23
Five More Giants of Chautauqua
Honoring Joan Brown Campbell, David and Jane Miller, George Vincent, Don Rapp and Ed Harmon

