Biography

Harold McKeen was the properties manager (for the Dominion Chautauqua?), who accompanied the tents and other properties on the railroad, from one site to the next. He was responsible for supervising local workers and transportation at each site, as they erected the tents at the proper location in preparation for the show. After the show closed, that crew took down the tents and reloaded them into the railroad car, under his supervision. He probably didn't need this skill on this job, but he was interested in amateur boxing throughout his life. He was still working out with a speed punching bag when over 80. He was married twice, but he outlived both wives, and had no children to inherit his personal possessions. This album came to his sister's son, who donated it to the University.

He had probably obtained this job because his father, Harry Ross McKeen (1875 - 1954), was one of the featured speakers on that circuit. It was a family tradition that Harold McKeen had held that same job for two successive summers. There is evidence in this album to substantiate that tradition, in the form of several photographs labeled 1919. The tradition also asserted that Harry McKeen had traveled Chautauqua for more than two seasons, but there is no clear evidence here for that assertion.?

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