A HISTORY OF THE COOPERATIVE RECREATION SERVICE

277 Pages·1972·14.152 MB·English

by  LARRY NIAL HOLCOMB

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73-11,021
HOLCCMB, Larry Nial, 1941-
A HISTORY OF THE COOPERATIVE RECREATION
SERVICE.
The University of Michigan, Ph.D., 1972
Education, recreation
University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
A HISTORY OP THE COOPERATIVE
RECREATION SERVICE
by
Larry Nial Holcomb
A dissertation submitted In partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Music: Music Education)
in The University of Michigan
1972
Doctoral Committee:
Professor Emil A. Holz, Chairman
Associate Professor David L. Angus
Associate Professor Janice A, Clark
Associate Professor James 0. Froseth
Associate Professor James A, Standifer
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PREFACE
In spite of its long life, hundreds of publications,
and service to millions of individuals throughout the world
annually, the Cooperative Recreation Service has received
little publicity. Before the present study, Lynn and
Katherine Rohrbough, the founders and directors of the
enterprise, had given permission to only four writers to
publish brief articles about the business.
Most views of the venture have been myopic because
of the great variety and volume of materials published by
the agency in the past forty-eight years and the modesty and
diverse activities of its directors. Most of the recreation
leaders questioned by the author were unaware that the CRS
had established an annual national recreation institute
eight years before the generally recognized beginning of the
recreation-laboratory movement. Most music educators con­
tacted by the author were aware of no more than twenty CRS
songbooks--about three percent of the total number published.
Unfortunately, no library has a complete set of CRS books.
Few libraries have any CRS books. Even though thousands of
recreation kits were published, the author has found only
one complete set.
This dissertation is the first comprehensive account
ii
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of the Cooperative Recreation Service. It describes how
one couple collected international folk materials and dis­
tributed them all over the world, how the CRS affected and
was affected by recreation trends, how it helped establish
a nationwide network of recreation laboratories, how it
became a primary source of games, dances, and folk songs,
how it began printing custom songbooks for non-profit groups,
and how it has influenced music education by providing
inexpensive tailor-made songbooks, by helping to create an
interest in folk music, and by supplying folk songs for
virtually all of the music series for the public schools
since 1950. It also provides the first complete listing of
the games, puzzles, dances, and party plans published by
the CRS.
Investigation depended on correspondence and inter­
views as well as on CRS books, business files, and adver­
tisements. It would have been impossible without the help
of many. Lynn Rohrbough, founder and director of the ven­
ture, gave the author complete access to all books and
business records at the CRS headquarters and graciously
answered countless questions. Virginia Rowlands, daughter
of Lynn and Katherine Rohrbough, helped Identify many remote
sources of information and provided a personal account of
the business during her lifetime. Olcutt Sanders, John
Leiainger, and Don Frye recalled much specific information
iii
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that provided Insights into the agency during the decades
they worked for it. Don Keesee, Bernice Montgomery, and
Ruth Speese, present employees of the CRS, showed the author
how the books are made and helped him locate materials from
the enormous collection at the CRS headquarters.
Longtime friends of the Rohrboughs, such as Dr, Roy
Bossert, Dr. James Chubb, Chester Graham, Stanley Hamilton,
Rev. and Mrs. Guy Jones, Dr. W. Arthur Milne, Wayne Roland,
Herman Shipps, Elizabeth Siddall, Fred Smith, Dr. Bliss
Wiant, and Eugenia Wolfe, loaned the author invaluable
correspondence and books and provided colorful accounts of
the Rohrboughs* activities in the 1920*3 and 1930*s.
Harold Reed, publisher of the Delaware (Ohio) Gazette, gave
the author permission to look through the archives of the
local newspaper.
Recreation leaders, such as Warren and Mary Lea
Bailey, Chester Bower, Carl Hutchinson, Ellen Edwards
Linson, Allen T. Smith, and Gwen Rapoport, carefully artic­
ulated the influence of the CRS on the social recreation
and cooperative movements of the first half of the century.
Music educators, such as Frances Andrews, Eunice
Boardman, Roger Jacobi, Edith Keller, Beatrice Landeck,
Harold Peterson, Cloea Thomas, Mary Tolbert, Betty Wels-
bacher, and Augustus Zanzig, helped assess the impact of
the CRS on music education.
Iv
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The author*s dissertation committee contributed
needed suggestions involving research, organization, and
writing style. The author is especially grateful to his
committee chairman, Emil A. Eolz, for his prompt, expert,
and kind advice. He is also grateful to his former counse­
lor, Marguerite V. Hood, for introducing him to the CRS.
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TABLE OP CONTENTS
Page
PREFACE. . ............................................ ii
LIST OF PLATES........................................ ix
INTRODUCTION . . . . . ................................ 1
Chapter
I. RECREATION AT TEE BEGINNING OP THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY...................................... 3
Changes in Traditional Recreation Patterns
Gradual Acceptance of Recreation
Higher Wages and More Free Time
Beginning and Growth of the Play Movement
Church Recreation
II. LYNN ROHRBOUGH*S BACKGROUND AND EARLY
EXPERIENCES AS A RECREATION LEADER . . . . . 13
Childhood
President of Methodist Epworth League at
Buckhannon, West Virginia
State Officer of Methodist Epworth League,
West Virginia
Field Secretary of Pittsburgh Area Metho­
dist Youth
President of Methodist Epworth League in
Delaware, Ohio
Social Secretary of YMCA at Greensburg,
Pennsylvania
III. THE SOCIAL-RECREATION UNION................... 19
Pounding at Boston University in 1924
Early Meetings of Members
Value
Publications
Katherine Perris Rohrbough
Movement of Headquarters to Chicago
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