 the barbershop harmony society, legally and historically named the society for the preservation and encouragement of barber shop quartet singing in america, inc. (spebsqsa), is the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop music as an art form. founded by owen c. cash and rupert i. hall in tulsa, oklahoma in 1938,hicks, val (1988), heritage of harmony new past press, isbn 0-938627-04-x, p. 14 the organization quickly grew, promoting barbershop harmony among men of all ages. as of 2014, just under 23,000 men in the united states and canada are members of this organization whose focus is on a cappella music. the international headquarters was in kenosha, wisconsin for fifty years before moving to nashville, tennessee in 2007. a parallel women's singing organization, sweet adelines international (sai) was founded in 1945. a second women's barbershop harmony organization, harmony, inc., broke from sai in 1959 over an issue of racial exclusion,averill, gage (2003), four parts: no waiting, oxford university press, isbn 0-19-511672-0, p. 132: "sweet adelines had no black members, and no one was aware of any black singers who had petitioned to join the organization. still, the board argued that there had always been tacit agreement about racial exclusion and it was time to formalize this policy...." with sai (like spebsqsa) being a white-only organization at that time.sai and spebsqsa lifted their restriction a few years later. several international affiliate organizations, in countries around the world, add their own flavor to the signature sound of barbershop harmony. see barbershop music for more on these organizations. ==name== the original name spebsqsa was intended as a lampoon on roosevelt's new deal alphabet agencies.{{cite web | title = preserving an art form: the barbershop harmony society | work = | publisher = barbershop harmony society | date = november 28, 2006 | url = http://barbershop.org/document-center/category/27-press-kit.html?download=397%3apreserving-an-art-form | accessdate =2007-05-19 | archiveurl= http:/
A_cappella_musical_groups American_vocal_groups Barbershop_quartets Culture_of_Nashville,_Tennessee Men\'s_musical_groups Music_education_organizations Music_organizations_based_in_the_United_States Organizations_based_in_Nashville,_Tennessee Organizations_established_in_1938