Excerpt from
HISTORICAL NOTES ON MUSIC IN BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA

Serenades have been customary here from the founding of the town to the present date.  During former times, more frequent than now. 
Visitors to the town were formerly greeted with a serenade. 
Birthdays were so celebrated. 

The date of birth of each individual in the community, was formerly known to the inhabitants, by a custom which existed, and which is still observed in Moravian congregations.  We refer to the keeping of a Birthday Book, a record containing a blank page for each day in the year.  In it were recorded the names of every member of the congregation, and friends and relatives in other places; distinguished members of the church, both here and elsewhere – both living and deceased – all such as they desired to remember.  Often, also, distinguished names in the history of the world, such as Luther, Melancthon, Gallileo, Columbus, Washington, the Presidents of the United States, or others, were found therein.

The Birthday Book and (Daily) Text Book were placed on the breakfast table each morn; after the Text was read, and while the family was being served, the Record was generally consulted in order to ascertain whose birthday it was. This custom served as a bond which held the inhabitants in social union. No one, no matter how poor or humble, was forgotten, every one was greeted with good wishes and attentions.  Such books of record also suggested subjects for conversation, often leading to entertaining and useful information, particularly so to young persons.  Distant persons were greeted by letter, those near were visited during the day, and saluted with kind wishes, sometimes by the singing of hymns ere they left their bed-chambers.  Poetical effusions were composed and sent; many specimens still exist in this community.  One of the best compositions of this class was written by bishop Gregor, while residing in America, to his daughter in Europe, giving a description of his American experiences, in the German language.  It consists of thirty-six verses, from which the following selections are copied, viz:

[Followed by Christian Gregor’s poem to his daughter on her birthday in 1771.]

GRIDER BOOK DETAILS

In 1873, Rufus Grider published his Historical Notes to capture the musical life of Bethlehem, from the beginning to the 1870’s. Reprinted in 2016 by the Moravian Music Foundation and the Moravian Historical Society (Nazareth, PA) in honor of the 275th Anniversary of Bethlehem, the 1873 edition was originally republished by MMF in 1957. The booklet is soft-cover, 78 pages, in 8.5″ x 11″ format. See the Book or Buy the Book

The booklet contains many of Grider’s own sketches and all the images that were in the original edition. Grider was a member of the Central Choir for over 25 years. He was a flutist, librarian of the Philharmonic Society, and proprietor of the hotel, who mysteriously “wandered away from Bethlehem and never returned.”