A fact from Red Hill Band appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 28 October 2023 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that the Red Hill Band was commended by the United States Senate in 1965 for its "excellence and its state and community contributions"?
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I am declaring my conflict of interest here on the article talk page. No one asked me to write this page and no one is paying me to do it. I will do my best to adhere to WP:NPOV and I will put the article through AfC rather than move it to mainspace myself. TipsyElephant (talk) 17:23, 9 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
If anyone is looking for the 1905 newspaper article published in the Town and Country and would like to see more than the clipping provided at The US GenWeb Project the full article is available on microfiche at the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center. If you would like the article in PDF format feel free to email me and I can send it to you. I may look into whether it's possible to upload the file to Wikimedia Commons or the Internet Archive. Given the age of the article I would bet that there wouldn't be any licensing concerns. TipsyElephant (talk) 13:09, 26 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The sources that I've found seem to disagree on who the first director of the band was.
The 1905 Town and Country article states that "The first director chosen was Eugene STYER and under him considerable progress was made. He was succeeded by Romanus MILLER. Soon after the election of Mr. MILLER, he moved out of town and Frederick EDDINGER was chosen as his successor. Mr. EDDINGER served till January 1, 1903 when the present director, David E. CROLL, of Pennsburg, was chosen."
The Hersey Mill's Guide and Digest and the Philadelphia Inquirer article, which were both written by Joseph S. Kennedy states that "One of the most popular community bands of the Sousa period was the wind band at Red Hill ... [which had] Romanus Miller as its first director".
The book Montgomery County, The Second Hundred Years. Vol. 1. states that "Eugene Styer, Harvey Gerhart, Adam McLean, John Renninger, and William O. Genzler did most of the pioneer work that resulted in the band's forming on December 6, 1900", which corroborates the claim that Eugene Styer was one of the founding members. However, the book follows this by listing the elected officers saying "Romanus Miller, the first director". The book provides further detail stating that "Romanus Miller served as director only a few months, and in April 1901 Fred Eddinger took over. Other early conductors were David E. Croll, Horace Weil, and William C. Hillegass."
The NexZest Upper Perk article states that "Perhaps few in recent history will be recalled so inspirational as Red Hill Band’s 9th Conductor Vincent P. Bercher". I have found the names of 8 directors before Vincent, however, the only source that mentions Eugene Styer as a director states that he was the first director.
The Morning Call article published in 2000 also states that "Bercher is the ninth conductor since the band’s inception."
The 1955 Morning Call article states that "Bernd was only 19 when he raised his baton for the first time as the seventh conductor in the history of the band.", which narrows it down further.
Given that multiple sources state that Romanus Miller was the first director I was initially inclined to list him as the first director. However, there are also multiple sources that indicate that there was a specific number of directors and the only source that mentions Eugene Styer claims he was the first director. Should this conflict be reflected in the prose of the article with a statement like "Sources disagree as to whether Eugene Styer or Romanus Miller was the first director of the band"? TipsyElephant (talk) 14:02, 26 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I found some primary sources at the Schwenkfelder that mention a director I hadn't seen any mention of until now. According to the sources I found, Howard B. Pflieger was director at least as early as 1922 until 1926. This means that either the sources mentioning the number of directors are wrong or the source that claims Eugene Styer was the first director is wrong. I have found mention of assistant directors so maybe Styer or one of the others was an assistant director. TipsyElephant (talk) 02:05, 17 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Many sources include names of the founding members. I could probably list of all the founding members. However, I'm wondering if that would be considered WP:UNDUE. The only significant difference between the founding members and the hundreds of people who have played in the band since then is the fact that they were founding members. There are some sources that specifically note when a founding member attended concerts after they retired from the band, and one of the sources notes that William O. Genzler was the last original member of the band in 1950. TipsyElephant (talk) 14:19, 26 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The Red Hill Band 100th Anniversary Commeorative Booklet includes a list of original members:
