The Sacred Harp Publishing Company recently published the latest issue of the Newsletter. The issue includes my and company executive secretary Karen Rollins’s tributes to 2014 posthumous citation award recipients Jeff and Shelbie Sheppard. I also contributed a short introduction to a 1965 essay by music educator Irving Wolfe on George Pullen Jackson’s contributions to Sacred Harp. Nathan Rees and I introduced this issue of the Newsletter as follows:
The sixth issue of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company Newsletter features stories about key figures and events from Sacred Harp’s history and celebrates the Sacred Harp Museum’s rich collection of songbooks, papers, and recordings.
Our issue begins with company executive secretary Karen Rollins’s and vice president Jesse P. Karlsberg’s tributes to 2014 posthumous citation award recipients Jeff and Shelbie Sheppard. Matt Wells follows with the second installment of our series telling the stories behind the more unexpected moments reported on in the minutes, writing about his and Lara Andersen’s “surprise wedding” at the 2002 Minnesota State Convention. Karen Freund shares excerpts from a conversation 2013 citation award recipient Jerry Enright recorded with Lookout Mountain singer Barrett Ashley about his lifelong love of Sacred Harp singing. Another article features a speech by music educator Irving Wolfe on Sacred Harp scholar George Pullen Jackson’s contributions to our music, which was printed in the minutes of the 1965 United convention. Charlotte Wolfe, Irving’s daughter, introduces the speech with memories of her father’s involvement in Sacred Harp. Rebecca Over shares new findings about the life of Sacred Harp composer Lee Andrew McGraw, shedding light on the role Sacred Harp played in the lives of singers during early decades of the twentieth century. Finally, Nathan Rees reports on a recent donation of a rare 1909 edition of The Sacred Harp to the Sacred Harp Museum and a new initiative to digitize and make available rare and significant items in the museum’s collection.
The Sacred Harp Museum presents three new online resources which complement these articles:
- A recording and complete transcript of Jerry Enright’s conversation with Barrett Ashley,
- A complete transcript (and downloadable PDF) of the minutes of the 1965 United convention, and
- A downloadable PDF of J. L. White’s 1909 The Sacred Harp, Fifth Edition, recently donated to the museum and digitized by Charles Whitmer.
As always, we encourage you to leave comments on these new articles and to write us with your feedback and suggestions of topics for future issues of the Newsletter.
Vol. 3, No. 1 Contents
- “Honoring Jeff and Shelbie Sheppard: 2014 Citation Awards,” Karen Rollins (Bowden, Georgia) and Jesse P. Karlsberg (Atlanta, Georgia)
- “Minnesota State Convention, September 28, 2002: ‘To the Puzzlement and Delight of All,’ a ‘Surprise Wedding,’” Matt Wells (St. Paul, Minnesota)
- “A Happy Life: Reflections on Sacred Harp Singing by Barrett Ashley,” Barrett Ashley (Collinsville, Alabama), Jerry Enright (Chicago, Illinois), and Karen Freund (Chicago, Illinois)
- “Our Debt to George Pullen Jackson,” Irving Wolfe (Nashville, Tennessee) and Charlotte Wolfe (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
- “In the Footsteps of Lee Andrew McGraw,” Rebecca Over (Ash Vale, United Kingdom)
- “Making the Sacred Harp Museum Accessible: A Newly Donated and Digitized 1909 White Book,” Nathan Rees (Knoxville, Tennessee)