This section includes a charming advertisement
from 1916, a brief history of the Chautauqua Industrial Art Desk, photographs
of children using the desk, suggestions for its use and care, and instructions
for various artistic techniques. This section is
an interactive tour of the desk's features and educational content.
The next best thing to seeing one in person! This section
shows a world map with national resources, accomplishments and statistics
from the era of the Great War.
Questions?
Please consult our FAQ.
This gallery features Chautauqua
Desks that illustrate different incarnations of this desk and
related printed matter. View great
photos of the desks and a shipping box. Read stories
from desk
owners and their descendents. Help owners
find out more about their desks. Learn more about this fascinating piece of
homeschooling paraphernalia. This website includes
scans and photographs of the Chautauqua Industrial Art Desk
desk circa 1919, and excerpts of a booklet for mothers often
sold along with it. The primary purpose of the art desk,
first invented in the late 1800's, was industrial art
education in the home by parents, not only to prepare
children for vocations in the arts but also to promote
self-expression and the spirit of play -- so often
indistinguishable from a child's "work" and yet so crucial
in developing a child's imagination and facility in the
arts. Drawing enthusiastically
upon the pedagogy of Froebel, Stoner, Beard, Lowell,
Emerson, Montessori and Hall, this teaching tool seeks to
develop not only the child, but also the mother's artistic
ability: The images on this website
are provided as a service to the art education community to
further research and understand the state of art education
early in the 20th century. All effort has been made
by the author of this website to withhold personal comment
on pedagogy and presentation in the hope that students and
educators may formulate their own attitudes and opinions
toward such a method of art education. Any reader familiar
with my own predilection toward technology and the
vocational arts may already sense my enthusiasm and delight
over this curious artifact despite its problematic
approach. Educators interested in
the topic of home schooling and the history of Learning
Centers may also find this website equally
intriguing. Enjoy your exploration of
this unique learning tool, and do not hesitate to e-mail me
feedback or scans of additional source material. I am
particularly interested in identifying precisely when this
desk may have been issued, as the WWI information on the map
seems to be years beyond the 1913 copyright date on The
Home Teacher booklet and desk scroll. --
Alison
King, Digital Art
Educator, January 2002 Do
you have a relative that once owned and used a
Chautauqua Industrial Art Desk as a child? I would
LOVE to interview anyone who has first-hand
experience with the desk. Do not hesitate to e-mail
me if you know someone who might be interested in
such an interview. Questions?
Consult our FAQ first.
*Excerpted from The
Home Teacher.
Copyright 1903, 1913 Powers, Myers and Company
NEW!
GALLERY
OF DESKS
"It is expected that the
mother will develop many original ideas and uses for these materials.
Unless the mother does so, the child will soon become conscious that
he has outdone the mother in inventive ingenuity and in power to put
things to good use." *
