Introduction To Community Recreation

Introduction to COMMUNITY RECREATION PREPARED FOR THE National Recreation Association BY GEORGE D. BUTLER FmuT EDITION E in tin i McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, Inc. NEW YORK AND LONDON 1940 COPYRIGHT, 1940, BY THE NATIONAL RECREATION ASSOCIATION PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publishers. THE MAPLE PRESS COMPANY, YOR PREFACE Many books have been written on the theory and significance of recreation, on recreation activities and leadership methods, on recreation areas and facilities, and on the content and conduct of various parts of the community recreation program. There has long been a need, how ever, for a comprehensive volume interpreting community recreation, its significance, functions, objectives, program content, methods of operation, and relationships. This book has been written to meet this particular need. The term community recreation is applied in this volume to recreation services that are provided for the benefit of all the people. Special consideration is given to those forms of recreation which require a considerable degree of organization and leadership and in which partici pation plays an important role. Because governmental agencies are providing a large and increasing proportion of such services, this book is devoted primarily to the work of these agencies. It deals with recreation as a function of local government, like health, education, and other essen tial public services. Yet to a large degree the material presented in the following pages applies equally well to those recreation services of private and semipublic agencies, which are made available toall the people with out restriction as to membership, creed, or race. Commercial recreation, which is motivated more by the desire for profit than by interest in the welfare of the people served, is not included as a part of community recreation. Throughout the volume major consideration is given to problems of community recreation as related to the town and city rather than the rural community. Although the provision of recreation in rural districts gives rise to problems which require solutions different from those which are applied in cities, much of the material presented here should be useful to rural recreation leaders. The volume opens with a general discussion of recreation its nature, significance, and extent and a brief history of municipal recreation in this country. Then follows a consideration of the essential elements in the community recreation program leadership, areas and facilities, activities, and organization methods. The recreation system is then treated from two points of view, one dealing with the operation of differ ent physical units in the system, the other with distinct program features vi PREFACE and services. A description of recreation programs in several representa tive cities gives a well-rounded picture of the service of local government in the recreation field. The concluding section of the book deals with several important administrative aspects and functions essential to the effective operation of the recreation department. The special interests and needs of three groups have been kept in mind in preparing this volume students and teachers of recreation courses, professional recreation workers, and lay individuals interested in the significance ofthis increasingly important field. The material is especially designed for use in the large number of colleges, universities, and special teacher-training institutions that have established recreation courses. It should give the student who is contemplating a professional career in recreation a background for further specialized study...