A Content Analysis Of The Back Of The Book Indexes Of Hymnals Of The Baptist, Episcopal And Methodist Denominations In The United States

This investigation began as a mission to determine if there were any differences among the hymnbooks of the Baptist, Methodist and Episcopal denominations in the United States of America. As a musician who has performed at various churches over the years, the researcher had observed that several different denominations had many of the same hymns in their hymnbooks. The extensive hymnal collections at the University of North Carolina and Duke University presented the opportunity to explore these official denominational hymnals. A rudimentary examination of several hymnals revealed variations in the indexing in terms of number and type.