Denomination: Restorationist 3 volumes <p>The Restorationist movement materialized in the US South in response to growing strife between fractious religious groups. Often traced to the preaching of Barton W. Stone (1772–1844) at an 1801 revival in Bourbon County, Kentucky, the movement initially cohered around an intentional decentering of denominational allegiance with Stone and others advocating for a restoration of the nonsectarian fellowship practiced in the first century Christian church. Restorationists preferred the title “Christian” over denominational affiliation. In its early years (pre-1850), the movement’s opposition to slavery nurtured religious communities with strong cross-racial participation. After joining forces with the similarly-minded Pennsylvania Christians led by Alexander Campbell (1788–1866), the Restorationists expanded their geographic reach. Campbell, who relocated to western Virginia in the 1810s, was the movement’s first and most influential hymnodist, although Restorationists also drew from Methodist and Baptist repertoire. In the 1860s, Restorationists began debating the use of instrumental music in worship, causing rifts between and within some congregations. Attitudes about musical accompaniment were the deciding factor when the movement formally split into two denominations in 1906. The non-instrumental Church of Christ would soon begin issuing official hymnals from their publication arm in Missouri and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) would publish hymnody intended to be accompanied from Texas. Even before this split, nineteenth-century Restorationists produced several collections of sacred music underwritten by charities, congregations, and individual devotees, like “The Christian Psalmist" (1851), compiled by Silas W. Leonard, A. D. Fillmore, William Gunn, and Thomas Harrison and published in Louisville, Kentucky. Now an international movement, Restorationist churches remain particularly prevalent in the South, especially along the Ohio Valley.</p> <p>—Erin Fulton</p>
Geography: Tennessee 8 volumes <p>By the early twentieth century, Tennessee was becoming an important center for the production and consumption of gospel music. In 1903, James D. Vaughan (1863–1941) founded his eponymous music company in Lawrenceville, a small town in the southeastern corner of the state that also served as a distribution hub for northwest Georgia’s Showalter Music Company. With gospel music flourishing to its south, Nashville was emerging as a center of denominational publishing. Major white and black denominations, including the African Methodist Episocal Church (founded 1816), the Southern Baptist Convention (founded 1845), and the National Baptist Convention (founded 1880), established headquarters and active publishing houses in what became known as “Music City.” Nashville was also home to several institutions of higher learning, including the historically black Fisk University. Founded in 1866, Fisk gained global renown for its touring group of Jubilee Singers that performed spirituals and folk songs collected by university faculty such as John W. Work II (1873–1925) and Frederick Work (1879–1942).</p> <p>—Jesse P. Karlsberg</p>
Sunday School 8 volumes <p>Sunday or Sabbath schools were first established in the United States in the 1790s. Though initially confined to the urban Northeast, they later spread throughout the country and were common across the South by the mid-nineteenth century. Sunday schools were organized by individual congregations, by networks of affiliated churches, and by members of urban neighborhoods who created “union” schools that crossed denominational lines. Teachers tended to adopt secular pedagogical models to teach religious study, exhortation, prayer, and class singing for a variety of ages. Whereas older students memorized and recited passages of scripture or a catechism, the youngest children usually learned metrical psalms or hymns. Students could earn premiums, like mugs or handkerchiefs decorated with hymn texts, when they advanced to a higher class or demonstrated mastery of the material. Though early Sunday schools also taught adult students, teachers and churches ultimately turned exclusively to the needs of children, creating a repertoire largely separate from “adult” church music and texts. Sunday school music was simple, often folk-like in character, limited in range, and rhythmically driven. Texts were often shorter and simpler than other hymns, presenting subjects more moral in character rather than explicitly religious. Though the simplicity of Sunday school texts continued to reflect their intended practitioner-audience of children, the musical accompaniment often existed in lively conversation with gospel music meant for adults.</p> <p>—Erin Fulton</p>
Nakcokv Esyvhiketv Author: R. M. Loughridge and David Winslett Published: 1851 | Added: Feb. 7, 2020, 3:35 p.m. Denomination: Presbyterian Geography: Oklahoma Native American: Muscogee (Creek) Non-English: Creek
Polished Pearls Author: T. J. Shelton and J. H. Rosecrans Published: 1876 | Added: Jan. 28, 2020, 4:46 p.m. Denomination: Restorationist Geography: Ohio Revival Sunday School
The Eureka Echoes Author: Faculty of the Eureka Normal School of Music Published: 1903 | Added: April 25, 2020, 5:27 p.m. Annuals/Serials Geography: Oklahoma Revival Sunday School
The Hesperian Harp Author: William Hauser Published: 1848 | Added: April 28, 2020, 4:31 p.m. Geography: Georgia Sunday School
Nakcokv Esyvhiketv Author: R. M. Loughridge and David Winslett Published: 1851 | Added: Feb. 7, 2020, 3:35 p.m. Denomination: Presbyterian Geography: Oklahoma Native American: Muscogee (Creek) Non-English: Creek
The Primitive Hymns Author: Benjamin Lloyd Published: 1857 (c1841) | Added: Jan. 28, 2020, 4:33 p.m. Denomination: Baptist Geography: Alabama
The Prize Author: George Root Published: 1870 | Added: April 28, 2020, 5:06 p.m. Geography: Ohio Sunday School
Himnos para uso de la Iglesia Metodista del sur Author: Published: 1875 | Added: March 5, 2020, 9:38 p.m. Denomination: Methodist Geography: Mexico Geography: Tennessee Non-English: Spanish
Polished Pearls Author: T. J. Shelton and J. H. Rosecrans Published: 1876 | Added: Jan. 28, 2020, 4:46 p.m. Denomination: Restorationist Geography: Ohio Revival Sunday School
The Temple Star Author: Aldine S. Kieffer and B. C. Unseld Published: 1877 | Added: April 21, 2020, 4:50 p.m. Geography: Virginia Sunday School
The Temperance Harp Author: R. A. Glenn Published: 1881 | Added: April 27, 2020, 4:18 p.m. Geography: Virginia
