Topic: CRS Version
Lynn Rohrbough began holding recreation institutes in 1926. [1] While they were similar to the commercial ventures mentioned in the post for 5 September 2021, they also were deeply steeped in Methodist tradition.
Elmore Lynch Rohrbough was born in 1900 in Aspen Colorado [2] to parents who were such strict Methodists that he did not sing until high school. In 1913, his father moved the family back to West Virginia, [3] where Rohrboughs had been living since the 1760s. [4]
The Buckhannon high school elected him president of the local Epworth League where he devised contests to attract new members. Then, he entered the local Methodist college, where his willingness to lead first manifested itself. He remembered he “made a baton from a broom and with it became the drum major for the West Virginia Wesleyan band.” He was sent to the summer Epworth League institute. [5]
The Epworth League had been organized in 1889 by Methodist church leaders who merged a number of existing groups. [6] They wanted a single youth program capable of competing with the YMCA and Christian Endeavor. [7] The organization began holding national conventions, then turned to smaller institutes dedicated to studying specific topics.
Its first institute was held in Delaware, Ohio, in 1901, [8] then the idea was taken up by the Pittsburgh district. [9] After a demonstration program in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1906, [10] more districts held them. By 1914, the League’s Central Office wanted an “Institute within reach of every Epworthian every summer.” [11]
While the avowed purpose of the institutes was earnest, recreation was part of the programs since the one in Des Plaines rented a farmer’s field for volleyball. [12] Pittsburgh used the Valley Camp the same year. [13]
Rohrbough was so successful in attracting members to the Epworth League that the Pittsburgh conference hired him as a field secretary in 1920. [14] One woman recalled “his first interest was games of all sorts, suitable for all church gatherings, and he had the ability and personality to put them across and keep young people interested.” [15]
After spending a year working for the Epworth League, Rohrbough transferred to Ohio Wesleyan in Delaware, Ohio, to complete his undergraduate work. [16] His next job was with the Greensburg, Pennsylvania, YMCA, twenty miles from Pittsburgh. [17] Since the Y emphasized physical activities, he used local churches to promote social recreation. [18]
A year later, Rohrbough had saved enough money to enter the Methodist theology school at Boston University, and enough of a résumé to be given a job as recreation instructor. [19] There, for the first time, he was around other people his age who needed ideas for church programs that did not include couples dancing together. [20]
He began holding meetings on Fridays for people to swap ideas. [21] His roommate remembered most of them “had part-time jobs as recreation leaders with nearby church youth groups.” [22] That led to mimeographed collections, and then, in 1924, printed units he called Handy. The sheets could be inserted into pocket-sized, four-ring binders. [23] Most were devoted to games, but section “S” was “Musical Recreation.” [24]
As the group expanded, it called itself the Social-Recreation Union. While Rohrbough initiated the activities, he let others run the organization. Emma Brox was responsible for music. Harold Case handled indoor activities. [25] Larry Holcomb noted:
“By delegating authority, he was able to run the organization from the sidelines, as it were without doing all the work or claiming credit for it. Simultaneously, he was able to provide leadership training opportunities for others”
who would become local church leaders. [26]
In 1925, Rohrbough married the group’s secretary, [27] Katherine Ferris, and they moved to Chicago where he worked for the Bethany Girls Center. His class credits at the Garrett Biblical Institute were accepted by BU. [28]
They continued the work of the Social-Recreation Union together, and in 1926 began using the name Church Recreation Service. [29] They charged a dollar fee for members to receive all their publications. Katherine recalled “the little book was making our living.” [30]
Like good business people, they used some of the funds to promote their work with their first Recreation Institute in the Bethany center. [31] The purpose was an exchange of ideas by individuals active in recreation. For their second Bethany conference in 1927, they were able to attract some of the more important people in the field. [32] Peter Dykema, who was then at Teacher’s College, Columbia, had published Twice 55 Games in 1924. [33] E. O Harbin had published a collection of games for the Methodist Church South in 1923, [34] and was just releasing a collection of song parodies. [35]
Among the less famous was his former classmate, Harold Case. He had returned to Kansas where he published A Year of Special Parties for Young People in 1926. [35] Another was Bruce Tom of the Ohio State Extension Office. He apparently did not have a book to promote. [37]
Graphics
1. Lynn Rohrbough during his senior year at Ohio Wesleyan University, 1922. Copy courtesy of Emily Gattozzi and Eugene Rutigliano, archivists at Ohio Wesleyan University in 2013 and 2020.
2. A photograph of Rohrbough and his wife, Katherine Ferris Rohrbough, appears of the Photos K tab and the post for 19 September 2021.
End Notes
For more on Lynn Rohrbough see the "Topics and Artists" column at the right.
1. Larry Nial Holcomb. "A History of the Cooperative Recreation Service." PhD dissertation. University of Michigan, 1972. 36.
2. Holcomb. 13.
3. Lynn Rohrbough. Letter to Larry Nial Holcomb, 17 February 1972. Cited by Holcomb. 14. Some of this information appears in the post for 9 February 2020.
4. Lewis Bunker Rohrbaugh. Rohrbach Genealogy. Philadelphia: Dando-Schaff Printing, 1970. 333.
5. Lynn Rohrbough. Cited by Holcomb. 15.
6. Paul Hutchinson. The Story of the Epworth League. New York: The Methodist Book Concern, 1927. 28–30. The Epworth League is mentioned briefly in the post for 9 February 2020.
7. Christian Endeavor was the first nondenominational Protestant youth club. Mark Senter describes it as a catalyst for the formation of denominational groups. [38] It is mentioned briefly in the post for 14 February 2021.
8. Hutchinson. 71.
9. Hutchinson. 97.
10. Hutchinson. 98.
11. Dan B. Brummitt. The Efficient Epworthian. Cincinnati, Ohio: The Methodist Book Concern, 1914. 415.
12. Hutchinson. 98.
13. Hutchinson. 100. The growth of institutes in Indiana is discussed in the post for 30 May 2021 on Epworth Forest.
14. Hutchinson. 15.
15. Mrs. Paul Randall. Letter to Larry Nial Holcomb, 7 March 1972. Quoted by Holcomb. 15.
16. Lynn Rohrbough. Quoted by Holcomb. 15–16.
17. Holcomb. 17.
18. Lynn Rohrbough. Cited by Holcomb. 18.
19. Holcomb. 17.
20. The Methodist attitude toward dance and play parties is discussed in the post for 2 November 2018, along with an example of a play party.
21. Holcomb. 20.
22. W. Arthur Milne, Sr. Interviewed by Larry Nial Holcomb, 19 November 1971. Quotation from Holcomb. 21.
23. Holcomb. 22. The Roman Catholic Church adopted a similar format in 1970 when changes in the liturgy created a similar kind of demand for new materials. See the post for 16 August 2020.
24. Holcomb. 22.
25. Holcomb. 24.
25. Holcomb. 23. Emma Atlee probably was typical of the group. She had taught in the public schools of Tyrone, Pennsylvania, before going to Boston. In 1924, she married Daniel Dewey Brox, who was a preacher in Fall River, Massachusetts. [39]
26. Holcomb. 23.
27. Holcomb. 24.
28. Holcomb. 26. Carrie Stewart Besserer organized the Bethany Girls in 1914 to serve the needs of young women who moved from farms to cities for work. It attracted the sponsorship of the Presbyterian Church. [40] The group ran a camp at Winona Lake, Indiana. [41] In Chicago, it owned a building that provided lodging for fifty. [42] Holcomb says Rohrbough was director of recreation, and “helped with training programs and parties.”
29. Holcomb. 26.
30. Katherine Ferris Rohrbough. “Good Times as a Career.” Wellesley Alumnae Magazine, January 1956. 83. Quoted by Holcomb. 33.
31. Holcomb. 36.
32. Holcomb. 37.
33. Peter W. Dykema. Twice 55 Games with Music. The Red Book. Boston: C. C. Birchard and Company, 1924. He is discussed in the post for 30 August 2018, and is mentioned briefly in the post for 5 September 2021.
34. E. O. Harbin. Phunology: A Collection of Tried and Proved Plans for Play, Fellowship, and Profit. Nashville, Tennessee: Cokesbury Press, 1923. Elvin Oscar Harbin is discussed in the posts for 9 February 2020, 26 September 2021, and 3 October 2021.
35. E. O. Harbin. Paradology, Songs of Fun and Fellowship. Nashville, Tennessee: Cokesbury Press, 1927.
36. Harold C. Case. A Year of Special Parties for Young People. Wichita, Kansas: Wichita Eagle Press, 1926. He later became president of Boston University. [43]
37. Bruce is discussed in the posts for 18 September 2021, 3 October 2021, 10 October 2021, and 17 October 2021.
38. Mark Houston Senter III. “The Youth for Christ Movement as an Educational Agency and Its Impact upon Protestant Churches, 1931-1979.” PhD dissertation. Loyola University of Chicago, March 1989. General impact on other church youth programs, 81–84; on Epworth League, 83.
39. “Miss Emma Atlee Now the Bride of [Rev] Brox.” Tyrone Daily Herald, Tyrone, Pennsylvania, 20 August 1924. 1. Digital conversion has “RF.”
40. “Bethany Girls.” Vintage Kids Stuff website.
41. Kaitlin Gruenwald. “Winona Lake Parks Department Internship.” Weebly website. Winona Lake is mentioned in the post for 17 January 2021.
42. “Overseers of the Poor & Outcast.” Lake View Historical Chronicles website, 10 June 2011.
43. “Dr. Harold C. Case, 69, Former President of BU.” The Boston Globe, 21 February 1972. 30. Posted by jptravis on 14 January 2020.
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