Fanfare for fifty: A brief history of the Central States Speech Association to 1981

Communication Studies, Spring 1999 by Reid, Loren

Interest in the new association accordingly dwindled rapidly. The Wisconsin campus had been selected as the 1935 site, but, after planning had begun, Professors Dennis, Simon, and Hardy of Northwestern urged that since NATS was meeting in Chicago in December, the separate regional convention should be postponed. Andrew Weaver, of the University of Wisconsin, responding to the letter, agreed. In 1981 it is difficult to believe that a few persons, even distinguished old-timers, could halt plans for a scheduled convention, but this move underscores the fact that the new group had little grassroots support. The 1936 convention also went by the board. So when a small group of members met in December 1936 at the NATS St. Louis convention, the mood was one of grave doubt that CSSA should continue. The deferred Wisconsin meeting was rescheduled for 1937, with the central theme to determine the status of CSSA. Even the election of officers was postponed.

So, after five years, during which only two spring conventions had been held, the demise of the new organization seemed imminent. As his last act, Barnes appointed an Interim Committee on Reorganization with full power to act; it could constitute the Association or dissolve it. The latter eventuality seemed more likely.

III

After six years, a handful of teachers meeting at Wisconsin wondered whether it was worth it. The decision was to make one more attempt, at Columbia. Then came World War II

The 1937 convention at Wisconsin followed the usual plan: a round of sectional meetings on Debate, Dramatics, Interpretation, Rhetoric and Oratory, Speech Rehabilitation, and Radio Speaking; and a round of sectional meetings for the different levels of instruction. The group passed resolutions seeking higher standards for the certification of teachers of speech and drama. But the principal business was to determine the fate of CSSA. On the Interim Committee, truly a second set of founders, were Bower Aly, University of Missouri, chairman; C. E. Lyon, University of South Dakota; Henry Moser, University of Michigan; Myron G. Phillips, Wabash College; Almere L. Scott, University of Wisconsin; Barnes and Layton, ex officio.

To its credit, the Interim Committee gave the enfeebled CSSA every chance to survive. At the meeting on "The Status of the Central States Speech Association," we can surmise that pros and cons were fully reviewed, resulting in a slight tilt toward carrying on. Layton spoke urgently for the Association; the notes of his speech still exist. Wilbur E. Gilman was another supporter. At this point the Committee, prepared with a draft constitution of ten simple, uncomplicated articles, brought it forward. It called for an annual convention, regardless of NATS's meeting place, and put membership on an individual, rather than a state, basis. When it was adopted, the group elected Layton as President. It wired me an invitation to become Executive Secretary.

I was then finishing my second year as instructor in speech in the Department of English at the University of Missouri. I was a founder of the Missouri Association of Teachers of Speech, then in its fourth year, and the editor of its journal. I had not gone to Madison as I expected CSSA to be knocked in the head, and did not especially care to attend the funeral. When I read the telegram asking if I would serve as Executive Secretary, I thought the honor was less than overwhelming. I suppose I accepted because I had seen what Missouri's association had already done to improve the professional status of teachers of speech.