Medicine Lodge and Baldwin to Host Famous Kansans

Date: January 5, 2007

TOPEKA – Medicine Lodge and Baldwin City will be the Kansas host communities for this summer's Famous Kansans Chautauqua. The festival of learning will be in Medicine Lodge June 14-17 and Baldwin City June 21-24. The 2007 Famous Kansans Chautauqua is a partnership between the Kansas Humanities Council, the Medicine Lodge Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Baldwin City Chamber Promotion Committee and Black Jack Battlefield Trust.

The 2007 Famous Kansans Chautauqua includes “Bar Room Smasher” Carry Nation, newspaper editor William Allen White, poet Langston Hughes, and controversial goat-gland doctor, J.R. Brinkley. Humanities professionals portray the famous Kansans under a tent in the city park each evening. Following the opening presentation each evening, the audience has an opportunity to ask questions of the famous historical figure as well as the scholar who created the portrayal.

This year the Chautauqua also features the Kid-Tauqua tent and a Youth Chautauqua Camp. Each evening, children can participate in hands-on activities including historical toys and games, storybooks, coloring pages, and try-on clothing. At the five-day camp, young people (grades 5-8) will be historians, researchers, and scriptwriters as they prepare to present their own historical characters on the Friday night of Chautauqua.

For more than 20 years, the Kansas Humanities Council has brought the traditions of the historic Chautauqua to towns and rural communities across the state. From the late 19th century to the first decades of the 20th century, touring Chautauquas combined oratory and lectures about national events with literary readings and musical entertainment that entertained and informed people about political and cultural happenings. Beginning in 1983, KHC revived the Chautauqua movement, and 50 communities have hosted the contemporary Chautauqua, playing host to the famous and infamous from American history.

For a complete schedule of chautauqua activities, contact KHC at 800/562-8057 in-state, 785/357-0359, info@kansashumanities.org, or watch for calendars on www.kansashumanities.org.

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