Lehigh University Press – serie

This is the first full-length study of the medical ministries of Kang Cheng and Shi Meiyu, who graduated from the medical school at the University of Michigan in 1896 and then ran dispensaries, hospitals, and nursing schools in China from the 1890s to the 1930s. Known in English-speaking countries as Drs. Ida Kahn and Mary Stone, they were well-known both in China and in the United States in the early twentieth century, but today have largely been forgotten. This book gives readers today the chance to know these fascinating women, whose stories shed light on many aspects of U.S.-China relations. At its broadest level, this study contributes to the development of a transnational women’s history, deepening our understanding of how ideas about women have traveled across national boundaries.

This is an account of the actions taken by the residents of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to create a local amateur society singing the music of J. S. Bach and to develop it into a choir of international importance. Singers, instrumentalists, industrialists, academicians, bankers, and churches acted in community to found and perpetuate a group devoted to sharing the music of Bach locally, nationally, and internationally. While The Bach Choir of Bethlehem performs frequently elsewhere, the annual Bethlehem Bach Festival became and remains a magnet for those who love Bach and want to experience his music excellently performed in historic and sacred surroundings.In order to reach and maintain its premier status, the choir, its conductor, its board, and staff had to be experts in music performance and shifts in audience tastes. They had to be responsive to research in performance practice, and skilled in strategic planning, promotion and fundraising. In recent years they had to become competent in sound recording technology and use of the internet. These attributes are described and analyzed with frequent use of documents and personal anecdotes.Successfully balancing the human actions and desires involved in such a complex enterprise has earned The Bach Choir of Bethlehem the title “A National Treasure” in music and the recognition that it is at the same time a national model for excellence as a cultural non-profit organization.This is a story of how and why—for over a century—inspiring performances of Bach’s music came about and were brought to many thousands of listeners.