Essential reading and links
These background resources will help you tell the story of barbershop:
Historical Background
BHS Vision & Mission
- Everyone in Harmony - our Strategic Vision
- Annual Reports -- facts, figures, and stories demonstrating the impact we make on the world
Press Releases and Fact Sheets
Click here to see all of our press releases.
BHS Fact Sheet
Learn more about our vision, mission, motto and theme song, as well as our programs and outreach work, our charitable and community activities, our size and reach, and more.
General BHS Background
Everyone in Harmony: How a barbershop quartet club might hold the key to world peace
OC and Rupert didn’t want to change the world; they just wanted to spend an evening singing with some friends. But what began on a lark as a quaint hobby became a music revivalist tradition, evolved into a legitimate musical art form, and is now a dynamic force for changing lives throughout the world...
BHS Contests
How to watch and judge a barbershop contest
The first contest of the Barbershop Harmony Society, held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June of 1939, was an extremely casual affair. There were no scorecards, no trained judges—in fact, no one’s quite sure how many quartets actually competed. We do know that the Bartlesville Barflies of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, beat the Capitol City Four of Springfield, Illinois, after a “sing-off,” and took home $50 and the coveted title of “World Champion Quartet.” The second contest, held at the New York World’s Fair in 1940, was judged by a panel of dignitaries that included Governor Al Smith, whom one competitor overheard whispering to a fellow judge, “They all sound good to me—who should I vote for?”
For more background information, please contact:
Brian Lynch, Public Relations Manager
615-673-4131 | blynch@barbershop.org