Lowell Mason Hymnal Collection

Excerpts from YDS exhibit: From Psalm Book to Hymnal: Selections from the Lowell Mason Collection

Photograph of LOWELL MASON

The Divinity Library's Lowell Mason Hymnal Collection consists of 1057 hymnals dating from 1660 to 1961. Many of these hymnals were given to the library by Lowell Mason's estate in 1875. Additional hymnals with music were given to the Yale Music Library. Included in the Divinity Library's collection are psalters, metrical versions, Sunday school and children's hymnals, seamen's hymnals, temperance hymnals, hymnals for camp meetings and revivals, denominational hymnals, and hymnals from Yale and the Y.M.C.A. Most hymnals in the collection are composed in English, but also included are hymnals in the following languages: Burmese, Cylonese, Chinese, Congolese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Latin, Marathi, Sioux, Swedish, and Welsh.

	The Divinity Library's Lowell Mason Hymnal Collection consists of 1057 hymnals dating from 1660 to 1961. Many of these hymnals were given to the library by Lowell Mason's estate in 1875. Additional hymnals with music were given to the Yale Music Library. Included in the Divinity Library's collection are psalters, metrical versions, Sunday school and children's hymnals, seamen's hymnals, temperance hymnals, hymnals for camp meetings and revivals, denominational hymnals, and hymnals from Yale and the Y.M.C.A. Most hymnals in the collection are composed in English, but also included are hymnals in the following languages: Burmese, Cylonese, Chinese, Congolese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Latin, Marathi, Sioux, Swedish, and Welsh.

Accessing Hymnals at the Divinity Library

A notebook in the Special Collections office contains photocopied title pages for each hymnal, arranged chronologically. The hymnals have been cataloged in Orbis, with author/compiler, title and subject access, and may be browsed by call numbers beginning with HY. There are many additional hymnals in the classified collection at the Divinity Library.

Tips for hymnody research at Yale

Click here to search Orbis for hymnals in the Divinity Library collection.

Hymnody and Psalmody links

Click here to learn more about the Special Collections at the Yale Divinity School Library.