Yale Divinity School: Library

Lowell Mason Hymnal Collection: Consists of 1,057 hymnals dating from 1660 to 1961. Many of these hymnals were given to the library by Lowell Mason 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 YMCA. Most hymnals in the collection are in English, but also included are hymnals in the following languages: Burmese, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Latin, Marathi, Sinhalese, Sioux, Swedish, and Welsh. An additional 1,000 or more hymnals are in the library’s regular cataloged collection. A broad range of denominations and traditions are represented. The library will purchase hymnals and collections of hymnals as necessary to provide a representative selection of hymnals for use in connection with the Divinity School curriculum. The catalog records include 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. A notebook in the Special Collections office contains photocopied title pages for each hymnal in the Lowell Mason collection, arranged chronologically. The Lowell Mason papers, 1813–1980, are available at the Yale Music Library. The Richard DeLong Collection is now housed at the Divinity School Library as well; it consists of 200 hymnals dating from 1853, with an emphasis on Catholic items. The collection is integrated with regular holdings, but items are identified as part of the DeLong Collection. Personal papers and music manuscripts are housed in the Music Library.