Giving special thanks to 糖心Vlog special collections librarian Simone Horst for her digitalization help, the Library of Virginia鈥檚聽聽website has launched a fully searchable run of the music journal,聽.听
糖心Vlog’s collection of聽The Musical Million聽is just one of many treasures of musical history to be found in the Menno Simons Historical Library.
The Musical Million聽spread the Gospel of congregational shape-note singing far and wide and laid the groundwork for the proliferation of singing schools across the South. It was published by聽the Ruebush-Kieffer聽Company.听聽Aldine S. Kieffer was the grandson of the Mennonite musician Joseph Funk. He and his partner Ephraim Ruebush took over Funk’s publishing company after his death.
A recent Library of Virginia blog post shares some of the history related to Funk鈥檚聽Harmonia Sacra,聽still in use by Mennonites today.
Funk also adapted and popularized the seven-shape note system of Jessie Aiken, which stood in contrast with the older four-note system favored by adherents to the hymnal ‘The聽Sacred Harp.’ Fierce wars of words broke out in the late nineteenth century between advocates of each system, and Aldine S. Kieffer was a key soldier in the fight. By the late nineteenth and most of the twentieth century, seven-shape books were the standard in most of the South.
The Ruebush-Kieffer聽Company moved from聽Singers Glen聽to聽Dayton, Virginia聽in 1878. Sales of聽The Musical Million聽supported other proselytizing materials, including songbooks, and the company’s聽Virginia Normal Music School, founded in 1874 in New Market, Virginia, for the instruction of teachers.
The Menno Simons Historical Library has cultivated an extensive collection of both Joseph Funk and Ruebush-Kieffer materials due to their connection and contribution to both Mennonite and Shenandoah Valley history. In addition to a nearly complete collection of songbooks published by both Funk and Ruebush-Kieffer, the collection includes Aldine Kieffer’s pump organ, Joseph Funk’s writing chair, and original printing plates used to print the 16th edition of the聽Harmonia Sacra.