Singing the Sacred
Singing the Sacred
Songbooks and Hymnals from the Sounding Spirit Digital Library (1850-1925)
Introduction
Singing the Sacred showcases southern vernacular songbooks published between 1850 and 1925, representing the music making of diverse religious groups. Across this dynamic period, modernizing publishing practices coincided with other far-reaching transformations. New book formats and sacred music genres flourished alongside devotional practices attuned to a changed and changing world. This exhibition celebrates the Sounding Spirit Digital Library, a National Endowment for the Humanities–funded resource for research and teaching with more than 1,250 books of southern vernacular sacred music. Singing the Sacred features works from Emory University, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Kentucky, University of Michigan, and University of Tulsa. Book features ranging from covers and bindings to music notation and marginalia introduce the exhibition. Visitors will first encounter the physical form of spiritual collections, Sunday school and gospel songbooks, hymnals, and shape-note tunebooks. The second half of the exhibit explores the relationship of these volumes to contexts, communities, and geographies of diverse peoples and movements in the New South.
