Music in the Women's Institute has become stereotyped by the ritualistic singing of Jerusalem at monthly meetings. Indeed, Jerusalem has had an important role within the organization, and provides a valuable means within which to assess the organization's relationship with women's suffrage and the importance of rurality in the Women's Institute's identity. However, this book looks beyond Jerusalem by examining the full range of music making within the organization and locates its significance within a wider historical-cultural context. The Institute's promotion of conducting - a regular part of its musical activity since the 1930s - is discussed within the context of embodying overtly feminist sentiments. Lorna Gibson concludes that a redefinition of the term 'feminism' is needed and the concept of 'gendered spheres' of conducting provides a useful means of understanding the Institute's policy. The organization's promotion of folk song is also examined and reveals the Institute's contribution to the Folk Revival, as well as providing a valuable context within which to understand the National Federation's first music commission, Ralph Vaughan Williams's Folk Songs of the Four Seasons (1950). This work, and the Institute's second commission, Malcolm Williamson's The Brilliant and the Dark (1969), are examined with the context of the organization's music policy. In addition to discussing the background to the works, issues of critical reception are addressed. The book concludes with an Epilogue about the National Society Choir (later known as the Avalon Singers), which tested the organization's commitment to amateur music making. The book is the result of meticulous work undertaken in the archives of the National Federation, the BBC Written Archives Centre, the V&A archives, the Britten-Pears Library, the Ralph Vaughan Williams Library, the Women's Library and the Newspaper Library.

Aptly named because of its hilly terrain and abundance of trees, the area now known as Forest Hills was a dusty coal mining community in the late 1800s. Centered between two major roads, the Lincoln Highway (Ardmore Boulevard/U.S. Route 30) and the Greensburg Pike, Forest Hills was incorporated in 1919 in order to gain better representation for tax money. Technology put the town on the map with the first commercial licensed radio station broadcast in 1920 and the Westinghouse Atom Smasher, built in 1937. As the borough grew with new houses, schools, and parks, so did traditions such as the Fourth of July celebration at Forest Hills Park and the Bryn Mawr Corn Roast. Many who live in the community are third or fourth generation residents. Using vintage photographs, Forest Hills presents the untold story of this tight-knit community.

When incorporated in 1919, Brielle was a summer tourist destination with a fledgling recreational fishing industry. The Manasquan Inlet permanently reopened in 1931, ensuring Brielle's status as a center for recreational sportfishing. Anglers flocked to Brielle to participate in tournaments, party boat passengers drove "down the shore" to enjoy a day of fishing, and a fleet of sportfishing boats grew at the docks. The personalities and stories of individual anglers are as varied as the fleet of vessels, from the anonymous fishermen who fluked along the Manasquan River to Lou and Eugenie Marron, a husband and wife team whose record-setting swordfish catches in the late 1950s remain unbeaten today. Exploits of Brielle anglers are recorded in fishing journals and sporting magazines from coast to coast.