Acknowledgments

-- WORKING DRAFT --

This project:

1. Recording the companion recording, Hymns and Songs for Living;
2. Writing the History Through 27 Hymns and Songs;
3. Building the TortoiseClimbing website; and
4. Figuring out how to publish both the recording and the book --

brought a closer understanding and empathy for my parents through sharing in the joy they received from this music and beliefs it represents. This project exists only because of my mother’s guidance, support throughout our journey of years, and her enduring love.

How Was the Decision Made to Write Hymn History Stories?

There are moments that make all the difference for shaping the next step we take in life. One such moment that led to embarking on putting Hymn History Stories together occurred during a recording session at Bias for the companion recording.

The orchestration arranger and conductor for some of these hymns, during a spare moment during the recording sessions, told brief hymn stories about a couple of these hymns. One was for the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul.” Those stories opened a conceptual door and intrigued me to want to know more!

From that beginning, around 1999 David found the website then known as “The Cyber Hymnal.” (It is now known as “Hymntime.”)⁽¹⁾ It provided very rudimentary information about many of the hymns in this collection. Almost all are now public domain, i.e., no longer subject to copyright.

That information was augmented by two popular simple hymn stories publications by Kenneth Osbeck: 101 Hymn Stories; and 101 More Hymn Stories, published by Kregel Publications. They provided additional hymn publication information to that obtained from the Cyber Hymnal stories.

While the hymn stories in Osbeck’s books follow the popular formula of being short and simple, i.e., they are deliberately very short, romanticized stories, which do not place the hymn stories in any historical context, they provided considerably more publication details. Especially about publication dates, and in what publication the hymns and/or their current hymn tunes first appeared. Information about dates and publications from the Osbeck books is gratefully acknowledged. The additional information available from those books further fueled the inspiration to continue researching material.

The companions to hymnals found in a couple theological seminary libraries in the Washington, DC metro area, and on the internet, added a few more details, although again, they too are rather limited to simple stories. Many thanks are extended to:

• The extremely helpful librarians at the Virginia Theological Seminary, Arlington, VA, who assisted in finding hymnology materials in their library;
• Materials were found at the library of the Washington Bible College, Lanham, MD, including additional copies of the Osbeck books;
• A copy of the Episcopalian Companion to the 1940 Hymnal was found online;
• Staff at the Smithsonian Museum Shop in the Arts and Industries building, Washington, DC, who had an exhibition on African Americans in the early 2000’s; and
• So, the journey continued.

A more thorough and academically accepted hymn resource subsequently came online in 2007 known as the Dictionary of North American Hymnology. An introductory overview of that very extensive project is available online.⁽²⁾ It is focused on hymns published in the United States and Canada from 1640 to 1978, and is accessed through the website, Hymnary.com.

Like The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, it provides online access to their comprehensive master bibliography and index of hymn collections. Unlike the Canterbury Dictionary, Hymnary.com is not behind a subscription “paywall.”

Since those beginnings in 1999, there has been an explosion of information on the Internet. Searches found sites with additional history facts about the individual hymns and songs, and especially historical perspective of the times within which each hymn was written. Relevant reference sites are footnoted throughout. A bibliography of books and articles is included at the end for your convenience. (Note - Websites can be volatile in changes and discontinuance.)

In addition to valuable information now available online from Hymnary, a great in-depth help was the online web search capability known as Google Books. That service provides online access to scanned copies of many old historical books, and preview segments of many newer ones. The wealth of scanned book materials found via Google Book searches provided considerable additional information. Those are referenced both as footnotes in the text and in the Bibliography.

Special thanks to persons who early on provided personal detailed answers to questions I was having trouble finding answers to. These include:

• Kathy Brigman Haupt for her information about composing of the very personal song “Welcome Home”;
• Ms. Marcy Hontz, in 2004 then handbell choir director, La Casa de Cristo, Lutheran church Scotsdale, AZ, who directed me to several reference books she used to develop her notes she provided online about the hymns her handbell choir works on. (Per the July 2014 Newsletter of the Handbell Musicians of America, someone else is now directing that handbell choir;⁽³⁾)
• Dr. Gerald McDaniel, North Central Texas College, Department of English for information regarding the possibility of a name for the hymn tune by William Gould Tomer in addition to the name of the hymn text “God Be with You ‘Till We Meet Again”;
• Reprint Book Shop, L’Enfant Plaza, Washington, DC for looking up publisher references (no longer in business);
• Dr. Bea Spade, University of Southern Colorado, Department of History, regarding availability of student paper about the American Colony in Jerusalem, and details about the two Spafford daughters from the second family who went to Jerusalem with the family in 1881. This provided beginning information about the Spaffords for hymn history story 22;
• Mr. Michael Tilch of Silesia, MD (deceased) who provided initial perspective on the history of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, and how they relate to current political boundaries of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany.
• Mrs. Valentine Vester (deceased) and Jeremy Berkovits, American Colony Hotel, for details regarding publications about the American Colony and Spafford Children’s Centre in Jerusalem.

Thanks to Dr. Nancy L. Graham for taking an interest and recommending adoption of The Chicago Manual of Style. (Dr. Graham has published numerous conference presentations, articles and books. She currently resides in Mobile, AL.) A brief bio of her can be found at Publications/History-Stories. Recent books of hers available from Amazon include:

• They Bear Acquaintance: African-American Spirituals and the Camp Meetings (Bern Switzerland: Peter Lang AG, December 2016), and
• African American Spirituals and the Lectionary (San Francisco, CA: Blurb; May 2019).⁽⁴⁾

Thanks to Mr. Dave Mather for his copy editing comments, which are greatly appreciated. He edited various different media over his life. A bio for him can be found at Publications/History-Stories.

Special Appreciation for Help with the Companion Recording

Heartfelt, very special thanks to Ms. Heidi Leah Gerber-Salins, the phase I recording engineer, producer, talent and good friend for:

• Her creative production ideas. As producer she identified and arranged for a variety of accompaniment resources for creating variations and fundamentals for a quality sounding product;
• Handling the logistics for bringing the resources together on the early draft recording;
• The extra hours she made available from her personal life for session time during those early stages, making it possible to record and share working tracks from this album while mother was alive; and
• Vocal partnering on the majority of the hymn vocals, vocal arranger, lead singer and major harmony provider on “Were You There.”
• (As of 2021, Ms. Gerber-Salins is on the faculty at Howard University.)

The numerous artists who provided wonderful assistance in creating the companion Hymns and Songs for Living recording. Their roles are documented on the website at Recording Hymns and Songs for Living.

To Ms. Shirley Bowers, who willingly gave a period of her life to care for her friends, my parents. She assisted in discussions for selecting the favorite hymns and songs in this collection. She also assisted in reviewing progress of initial working tracks for this album as they were shared with mother.

To Ms. Jintzie Belcher, who assisted her friend Shirley Bowers in caring for my parents. She too was part of the reviewing progress of initial working tracks for this album as they were shared with mother.

To Mr. William (Bill) McElroy, who was willing to pick up the recording process for phase II from where it was suspended many years before. Mr. McElroy had a previous history with both David and Ms. Gerber-Salins. So, in a way it was a full circle return. He was instrumental in assisting a number of improvements in creating the final recording.

Footnotes

If you wish to comment on contents of this webpage, Clicking the button below will both transfer you to the Contact/Comment page, and pass along that you were on this webpage when you decided to comment.