{"id":327,"date":"2022-01-19T20:15:38","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T20:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philadelphiacongregations.org\/home\/?p=327"},"modified":"2022-01-24T04:44:25","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T04:44:25","slug":"shape-note-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philadelphiacongregations.org\/home\/shape-note-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Shape-note music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Contributed by Jean Craig<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we choose a new set of documents or a ledger to transcribe, interesting material can appear in the pages outside of the formal texts or lists.  Sometimes there are sketches, short jottings, loose material inserted, or other writings that the contemporary person did not want to let slip away. Our mandate is to try and describe these addenda as carefully as we can, as what we supply may add important social or historical context and be of help to a researcher. And, sometimes, these addenda prove intriguing and fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such find — historical, cultural, and intriguing — was on an endpaper at the close of the first volume of Burial Records for the Second Presbyterian Church<\/a>, with records dating from 1785 to 1808.  On a page with a final few entries and other jottings, I saw what appeared to be a design of some sort running down the outside edge of the paper.  Upon rotating the image, the \u201cdesign\u201d proved to be a hymn written on an extended staff as shape-note music.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n