steal this hymnal

In a letter dated August 5, 1940, Carrie Ingalls Swanzey wrote to her sister Laura Ingalls Wilder:

...I believe we sang the same pieces (hymns) in Sunday-school that were used in church, it has been later years when they got to thinking the old hymns were too slow and solemn for the younger generation. Now there is No. 8, 13, 18, 25, 42, 74. I remember all those and a few more... of course they were all written before 1871; they must have been picked for the best and more modern, though of course they did not say "modern" then.

The numbers above refer to hymns in the Ingallses' copy of Pure Gold for the Sunday School, by Reverend Robert Lowry and W. Howard Doane, published in 1871 by Biglow & Main in New York. Laura Ingalls Wilder mentioned some of the hymns from this book in the De Smet "Little House" books. See my prairie song companion for more information about these LH songs and others.

Here's my pdf file of PURE GOLD FOR THE SUNDAY SCHOOL; I've bookmarked the songs used in the LH books. Feel free to save and/or print for your own non-commercial use. I apologize in advance for the size of the file.
- posted by pioneergirl at 11:59 PM