Boys' reluctance to participate in music education programs, particularly in school singing groups -- termed in this paper the "missing males" problem -- is just one among many pressing gender problems in music education. In order to discover whether boys' lack of participation in music, along with other gender-related issues, are merely recent phenomena, the study sought to discover whether these issues were of concern to music educators in the early part of the 20th century. A descriptive study of the Music Supervisors' Journal, a publication of one of the earliest music educators' organizations in the United States, was conducted. The goal was to identify all educational issues that today would be considered explicitly gender related and to analyze the explanations past music educators gave for the existence of gender-related problems. A critique of the solutions put forth by journal contributors also was given. All articles in the first 10 volumes (1914-1924) of the Music Supervisors' Journal were reviewed and a critical textual analysis of every gender related reference was undertaken. A gender related reference was defined as (a) the mentioning of either males or females as a group, or (b) the mentioning of single-sex activities or organizations. The study analyzed the following male-related issues discussed by the journal: the missing males, the role of music in the education of boys, career opportunities in music for males, the relationship of music to the nature and the character development of boys, boys' musical likes and dislikes, the male singing voice, and music for the man at war. By contrast, the study found that the journal devoted little attention exclusively to females, their interests, or their problems. The study concludes that the current preoccupation with males and male problems in music education has deep historical roots, and that little has changed from the beginning to the end of the 20th century in this area. (DB)