Publications:
History Through 27 Hymns and Songs

This is the companion for all versions of the recording, Hymns and Songs of My Mother

This is a very extensive history eBook that presents footnoted, historical information of the time each hymn or song was published. It provides historical context of the times which shaped each of the hymns and songs.

(This eBook will also be the basis for producing advanced podcasts of the chapters, beginning as soon as the eBook is completed, targeted as early in 2024 as possible, followed by an audiobook later in 2024.)

In addition to the extensive histories around each of the 27 hymns and songs, extensive additional supporting historical information is included in several appendicies:

• Appendix I provides an overview of historical highpoints of the past 2 millenia that impacted Christian congregational hymn singing, from the death of Christ in the 1^st century to the 20^th.


• Appendix II provides the continuation of the very extensive history of the American Colony that occurred after publication of the hymn "It Is Well with My Soul" in 1876, which was while the Spafford's were still in Chicago. The family and friends abruptly departed from Chicago for Jerusalem in 1881. The additional appendix II historical information about their time in Jerusalem between 1881 and 1949 provides a fuller presentation of the family's and the colony's activities for readers to make their own judgements about the Spafford's.


• Additional appencices provide:
  • Lyrics for each hymn and song on the companion album;
  • List of church hymnal books used as references for selection of the hymns;
  • Bibliography; and
  • Index.

Various persons contributed to shaping this eBook:

• Dr. Nancy Graham recommended adopting an established style manual for structure on the book. (The Chicago Manual of Style was selected.) A short credit page for her is included on the dropdown local submenu above.


• Mr. Dave Mather provided an initial set of copy edit comments that assisted in putting the text into the style of the Chicago Manual of Style. He has a wide variety of experiences dealing with various different types of publications. He passed away in 2021. A bio for him is included on the dropdown local submenu above.


• Mr. Terry Hamilton, the freind who initially asked the author to record some duets with him at Bias recording studio, which contributed to creation of TortoiseClimbing™ in 1993. Terry provided resources for content which were especially helpful for history of the hymn "Christ The Lord Is Risen Today." He is a bit of an Anglophile, which seems particularly fitting, since portions of the hymn histories involve England over the centuries. (Note. A discussion and illustrations of duets recorded with Terry are included on the webpage Duets with Terry.)


• Ms. Ingrid Bartinique became the indepth editor for this eBook and provided valuable recommendations for creation of the final version. David previously worked with Ms. Bartinique as a professional colleague on various projects when he was a manager of research projects with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. A bio for Ms. Bartinique is included here under publications on the above dropdown local submenu.

Note. The opportunity to return to working with Ms. Bartinique on this eBook is somewhat analogous to what occurred with completing the versions of the album Hymns and Songs for Living. For the recording David returned to working with Mr. Bill McElroy. For this eBook, he returned to working with Ms. Bartinique. Both are examples of full circles in life, and are welcome privileges, again illustrating the World can be quite small.

Structure of Book

Histories from when each of the 27 hymns and songs were written are presented as separate chapters, with subsections as appropriate. Those histories provide the context of why each hymn and song was written, providing insights into why the hymns are what they are.

Material in each history is chronological. If readers wish to skip to other referenced historical materials, a number of internal bookmarks are provided enabling electronically skipping to related discussions in other histories within the eBook.

In addition, there is additional information given in several appendices.

Appendix I gives an expansive summary of historical highpoints from the past 2 millenia of selected christian religious histories relevant to development of congregational hymn singing. It begins from Christ's death, and goes to the 20^th century.

Appendix II is a rather extensive continuation of the history of the America Colony in Jerusalem. This appendix is the history in Jerusalem after the hymn "It Is Well with My Soul" was published in 1876. While the extended history that occurred in Jerusalem is not germane to shaping of the hymn, it is germane to the reader deciding how to judge actions of the family.

Other appendices present:

• Lyrics of each of the hymns and songs;
• Resource hymnals used to select the hymns;
• Bibliography;
• Index.

Since opinions can be strong regarding religious subject matter, extensive footnotes with internet hyperlinks are provided throughout to enable readers to easily explore supporting source materials by clicking on the hyperlinks.

Because many scholarly reference books are only accessible via libraries, this book deliberately limited most references to materials accessible via the internet, explicitly to facilitate readers in easily accessing them. The goal is to facilitate readers being able to easily follow-up on topics of interest to them.

Note. While internet sources are invaluable for easy access, they can have scholarly limitations, plus they can disappear.

Two Presentation Formats are planned for this book:

1. eBook - The initial is a publication format as a fixed format eBook. The fixed format is to ensure footnotes are presented at the bottom of the page where they are cited; and


2. Audio - Shorthly following, we will begin offering advance podcasts of chapters from the eBook, followed by the complete audiobook. (Initiation of the advance podcasts is projected to begin with release of the eBook in latter 2023, with availabilty of the completed audiobook in latter 2024.

Example Materials from eBook

Working drafts of front material from this extensive history book are accessible on this website via the dropdown local submenu above, for:

1. Acknowledgements; and


2. Preface

You Can Help Improve Accuracy of History Stories

When released, readers are encouraged to help improve this book by providing comments on inaccuracies, plus sources for missing materials you believe should be added, etc. You can submit your thoughts to TortoiseClimbing Publishing™ via the comment page on this website, which you can simply access by clicking on the comment button at the bottom of this and every page on this website.

How to Get to Recordings

Note. If you wish to go to the companion recording section for Hymns and Songs of My Mother you can either:

• Click on the Recording selection above in the Top Menu,
• Then on Hymns and Songs of My Mother on the dropdown SubMenu; or

Or, click here Hymns and Songs Of My Mother.

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.