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A Checklist
of
Printed Shaker Hymnals
This checklist was compiled from many years of research and includes only the printed hymnals bound together as a book. It does not include the pages stitched together mostly at Canterbury between the 1870s and 1890s. These pages were used for singing instruction in the Shaker school and not intended to be used as hymnals during Shaker worship.
The Shaker hymnals were are listed in chronological order with SH [Shaker Hymnal] numbers, and were originally listed at the back of in this music collection:
Joy of Angels: Shaker Spirituals for Christmas and the New Year
Sampler Records Ltd.
A Message to Web Readers:
Should you use any of the information on this page on your site, in a research paper, any publication or recording, kindly give credit to
the compiler, Roger Lee Hall.
A Checklist of Shaker Hymnals
SH-1: Millennial Praises, Containing a Collection of Gospel Hymns in Four Parts. Hancock [Massachusetts]: Josiah Tallcott, Junior, 1813. 140 hymn texts. No music. See review of a new edition with music here.
SH-2: A Selection of Hymns and Poems; For the Use of Believers. By Philos Harmoniae [Richard McNemar]. Watervliet, Ohio, 1833. 167 hymns and poems. No music.
SH-3: A Little Selection of Choice Poetry, New and Old, Doctrinal and Devotional. By E.W. [Eleazer Wright, another pseudonym of Richard McNemar]. Waltervliet, Ohio, 1835. 7 hymn texts, No music.
SH-4: No title. Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1842. 123 hymn texts. No music.
SH-5: Sacred Hymns for Spiritual Worship of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1845. 125 hymn texts. No music, except for two hymns with melodies only.
SH-6: A Collection of Millennial Hymns, Adapted to the Present Order of the Church. Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1847. 151 hymn texts. No music.
SH-7: [Blinn, Henry C., compiler]. A Sacred Repository of Anthems and Hymns, for Devotional Worship and Praise. Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1852. 54 anthems, 51 hymns. This is the first hymnal with all the melodies in Shaker letteral music notation. The hymnal is discussed in the article: "Shaker Hymnody: An American Communal Tradition."
SH-8: [Anderson, Martha J. and Daniel Offord, compilers]. Shaker Music. Inspirational Hymns and Melodies Illustrative of the Resurrection Life and Testimony of the Shakers. Albany, New York: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1875. 77 hymns and songs [first hymnal with music in conventional music notation and in four-part harmony].
SH-9: A Selection of Devotional Melodies; Simple in Arrangement, Yet Inspirational. Canterbury, New Hampshire: Shaker Village, 1876. 30 hymns and songs.
SH-10: A Collection of Harmonies and Melodies Adapted to Sacred Worship. Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1878.
SH-11: [Hampton, Oliver C., compiler]. The Musical Messenger; A Compilation of Hymns, Slow and Quick Marches, Etc. Used in Worship by Believers. Two separate editions: A - Lebanon, Ohio: F. Estes, 1881 - 67 hymns and songs/ B - Union Village, Ohio, 1881 - 29 hymns and songs (the last two hymnals in Shaker letteral notation).
SH-12: Shaker Anthems and Hymns, arranged for Divine Worship. Canterbury, New Hampshire: Shaker Village, 1883. 2 anthems, 12 hymns.
SH-13: [Offord, Daniel, compiler]. Shaker Music. Original Inspirational Hymns and Melodies Illustrative of the Resurrection Life and Testimony of the Shakers. New York: William A. Pond & Co., 1884 [second expanded edition of H-8]. 244 hymns and songs.
SH-14: Shaker Anthems and Hymns, Arranged for Divine Worship. Canterbury,
New Hampshire: Shaker Village, 1887.SH-15: [Blinn, Henry C., compiler]. A Collection of Hymns and Anthems Adapted to Public Worship.
East Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1892. 124 hymns and anthems [originally published in The Manifesto, a periodical published by the Shakers and available to non-Shaker readers].SH-16: [Anderson, Martha J., Lucy Bowers, and Daniel Offord, compilers]. Original Shaker Music. Volume II. Published for the North Family of Mt. Lebanon, Col. Co., New York. William A. Pond & Co., 1893. 220 hymns and songs. [Both H-13 and H-16 have been reprinted by the Sabbathday Lake Shakers and are still used by them.]
SH-17: Shaker Hymnal. Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1896. 543 anthems and hymns.
SH-18: Shaker Hymnal. East Canterbury, New Hampshire: The Canterbury Shakers, 1908. 23 anthems and 225 hymns. Reprint: The Shaker Savings Association, Shaker Heights, Ohio, 1961 (hardcover)/ 2nd reprint: The Overlook Press, Woodstock, New York, 1996 (paperback). Read more about this hymnal here.
Total Shaker hymns, anthems and songs in the Shaker hymnals
(1813-1908) = 2,414--Checklist compiled by Roger Lee Hall
Original Shaker Music Recordings
These two CD releases on Rounder Records, with 40 Shaker spirituals each, are the most extensive ones featuring the Shakers singing and speaking about their music...
Early Shaker Spirituals
A CD collection of 40 Shaker spirituals from Rounder Records sung by The United Society of Shakers, Sabbathday Lake, Maine. Many of the spirituals are sung by Sister R. Mildred Barker, the foremost Shaker singer of her time. The spirituals include humility songs, gift songs, prayer songs, hymn and anthem and several interviews with Sister Mildred Barker. Extensive notes and texts for all the music are provided by Daniel W. Patterson.
You can order from Amazon.com here:
Let Zion Move - Music of the Shakers
This 2 CD set from Rounder Records includes 40 Shaker spirituals sung by the Shakers from Canterbury, New Hampshire and Sabbathday Lake, Maine. It includes a history of Shaker music narrated by Sister R. Mildred Barker and Sister Lillian Phelps. There are also interviews with Sister R. Mildred Barker, Eldress Bertha Lindsay, and Sister Lillian Phelps.
The interviews were done in 1960 by William (Bill) Randle, and in 1972 and 1980 by Roger Hall, who has written the extensive notes for this unique historical collection.
The set also has an attractive 72 page illustrated booklet with examples of Shaker music and the words to all 40 Shaker spirituals plus a bibliography and discography.
You can order from Amazon.com at this link:
Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers
Additional recordings of original Shaker music are found at
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