Some years ago, Scott Wells started a website for the readings and other liturgical materials in the 1937 Unitarian and Universalist hymnal Hymns of the Spirit. In a recent blog post, Scott tells how he’s reactivating that project, and he also points out that much of the material in that old hymnal is now in the public domain.
I’m sill fond of Hymns of the Spirit because it includes music by Lowell Mason and other early nineteenth century American composers. That music is out of fashion now, but there are plenty of good tunes that could be arranged in new ways and repurposed — just as Peter Mayer did with the old hymn tune Hyfrodol, when he turned it into “Blue Boat Home.” So this is a reminder to myself that I need to go back and look through that old hymnal….