Ephraim Ruebush (September 26, 1833 – November 18, 1924) was a music teacher, publisher, and co-founder of the Ruebush-Kieffer Company, one of the largest and most influential publishers of gospel song books in the United States.
Ephraim Ruebush was born in Churchville, Virginia, the son of John Ruebush and Mary Huffman. In September 1853, he traveled to Singers Glen, Virginia, to study music and printing under Joseph Funk. He married Lucille Virginia Kieffer on March 28, 1861. With his brother-in-law, Aldine Silliman Kieffer, he founded the Kieffer-Ruebush music company in Dayton, Virginia. This became one of the largest and most influential gospel music companies of its day, printing songbooks into the 1940s. Ruebush died on November 18, 1924, and is buried in Dayton.
Jacob Henry Hall, an author of books on gospel music and a book on gospel songwriters, was associated with the company. [1]
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books by decree in 1586, it is the second oldest university press after Cambridge University Press.
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newspapers, and magazines. With the advent of digital information systems, the scope has expanded to include electronic publishing such as ebooks, academic journals, micropublishing, websites, blogs, video game publishing, and the like.
Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the noteheads in written music to help singers find pitches within major and minor scales without the use of more complex information found in key signatures on the staff.
Wilson Marion Cooper of Dothan, Alabama, was a notable musician and music teacher within the Sacred Harp tradition. Marion Cooper was born in Henry County, Alabama, the son of W. S. and Elizabeth Ann (Oates) Cooper. He was a cousin of Alabama governor William C. Oates.
Jesse Bowman Aikin (1808–1900) was a shape note "singing master", and compiler of the shape note tunebook The Christian Minstrel. He was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania and lived on a farm in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. Aikin, a member of the Church of the Brethren, was the first to successfully produce a song book with a seven-shape note system, in 1846. He vigorously defended his "invention" and his patent, which included the elimination of bass and treble clefs and the simplification of time signatures. After the influential Ruebush & Kieffer Publishing Company began using his notehead shapes around 1876, the Aikin shapes eventually became the prevailing standard in shape note and gospel music publication, although few other compilers adopted his other innovations.
Aldine Silliman Kieffer was a leading 19th century proponent of shape note musical notation, music teacher and publisher.
Joseph Funk (1778–1862) was a pioneer American music teacher, publisher, and an early American composer. He invented a shape note system in 1851 for the Harmonia Sacra.
Salem Media Group, Inc. is an American radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher formerly based in Camarillo, California, targeting audiences interested in Christian values and what it describes as "family-themed content and conservative values." In addition to its radio properties, the company owns Salem Radio Network, which syndicates talk, news and music programing to approximately 2,400 affiliates; Salem Media Representatives, a radio advertising company; Salem Web Network, an Internet provider of Christian content and online streaming with over 100 Christian content and conservative opinion websites; and Salem Publishing, a publisher of Christian themed magazines. Salem owns 117 radio stations in 38 markets, including 60 stations in the top 25 markets and 29 in the top 10, making it tied with Audacy for fifth-largest radio broadcaster. FamilyTalk is a Christian-themed talk format on Sirius XM Radio Channel 131. Additionally, Salem owns conservative websites Townhall.com, RedState, Hot Air, and PJ Media, as well as Twitter aggregator Twitchy.
Southern gospel music is a genre of Christian music. Its name comes from its origins in the southeastern United States whose lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music. Sometimes known as "quartet music" for its traditional "four men and a piano" set up, southern gospel has evolved over the years into a popular form of music across the United States and overseas, especially among baby boomers and those living in the Southern United States. Like other forms of music the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of southern gospel varies according to culture and social context. It is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace.
Benjamin Carl Unseld, better known as B. C. Unseld, was a gospel music teacher, composer, and publisher.
Anthony Johnson Showalter was an American gospel music composer, teacher and publisher. He was born in Cherry Grove, Virginia. Showalter was trained in the Ruebush-Kieffer School of Music and was teaching in shape note singing schools by age fourteen. In 1884, he formed the Showalter Music Company of Dalton, Georgia. He was also an elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Dalton.
The National Gospel Singing Convention is an annual Southern gospel music event, and has played a significant part in the development of Gospel music.
John 11 is the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the raising of Lazarus from the dead, a miracle of Jesus Christ, and the subsequent development of the chief priests' and Pharisees' plot against Jesus. The author of the book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that John composed this Gospel.
Peter Fenelon Collier was an Irish-American publisher, the founder of the publishing company P. F. Collier & Son, and in 1888 founded Collier's Weekly.
Robert Emmett Winsett was an American composer and publisher of gospel music.
Haldor Lillenas was "one of the most important twentieth-century gospel hymn writers and publishers" and is regarded as "the most influential Wesleyan / Holiness songwriter and publisher in the 20th century". Additionally, Lillenas was an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, author, song evangelist, poet, music publisher and prolific hymnwriter, who is estimated to have composed over 4,000 hymns, the most famous being Wonderful Grace of Jesus. In 1931 Lillenas was the producer of Glorious Gospel Songs, the first hymnal for the Church of the Nazarene. In 1982 Lillenas was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
Binford & Mort Publishing is a book publishing company located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1930, the company was previously known as Metropolitan Press and Binfords & Mort. At one time they were the largest book publisher in the Pacific Northwest. The privately owned company focuses on books from the Pacific Northwest, and has printed many important titles covering Oregon's history.
With residency beginning in 1727, Adam Miller (Mueller) is recognized as the first permanent white settler in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, US. Born in 1703 in Schriesheim, Germany, Miller immigrated to America as a young married man, settling in Lancaster County, PA in 1724.
Dayton Historic District is a national historic district located at Dayton, Rockingham County, Virginia, USA. The district encompasses 154 contributing buildings and one contributing site in the central business district and surrounding residential areas of the town of Dayton. It includes a variety of residential, commercial, and institutional buildings most of which date from the late-19th century and early-20th century. Notable buildings include the Alberta Coffman House, Layman House, the Samuel Shrum House, the Thomas House, W.J. Franklin House, Bank of Dayton (1911), the Ruebush-Kieffer Printing Company, Dayton Drug Company, Howe Memorial Hall, the Administration Building (1910), the Kieffer Alumni Gymnasium (1930), Carpenter Store (1888), Specialty Harness Company, Ruebush-Kieffer Company, and the Methodist, Presbyterian, and United Brethren churches.