About the Calvin Hymnary Project
Do you search for hymns and worship music for worship services? Are you researching a particular hymn? Looking for an arrangement or media file? If so, the Hymnary is for you.
The Hymnary is an online hymn and worship music database for Worship leaders and others looking for hymns and worship music. It’s a collaboration between the Christian Classics Ethereal Library and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. At the Hymnary you can search or browse hymns by title, tune, meter, key, scripture reference, and more.
State of the Project
Work on the hymnary began in earnest in the summer of 2007. We implemented a beta version of the database and web pages and entered a couple of hymnals. We went “live” with the beta version in January 2008. At that time about a dozen hymnals were entered and most of the basic functionality was in place. However, the project is still “beta” and the look and functionality are still in flux.
The following are some of the items on our short-term to-do list:
- Enter index data of 12 popular modern hymnals, beginning with current Faith Alive publications and hymnals used in the CICW web worship services.
- Load the rest of the CCEL’s 25 or so full-text historical hymnals.
- Add the Psalter Hymnal Handbook data to the database for all Psalter Hymnal hymns.
- Create an attractive graphic design.
- Support upload of files via a web interface.
- Add a “refine search” capability.
- Bug fixes
Future Goals
Once the Hymnary moves from beta to a fully functional online database of hymns and hymnals, we hope to add these features:
- Hymn text search. Copyright laws don’t allow us to display copyrighted hymn texts, but we can make full texts searchable a la Google books.
- Public domain resources like John Julian’s Dictionary of Hymnology and out-of-copyright hymn texts, fully searchable.
- Discussion forums and resources for special interest communities—global worship music, hymn writers, hymnologists, etc.
- “Search my collection.” Personalized interfaces that allow users to create their own “hymnal” or “hymnary” within the larger database.
- A place for scholars to add notes or articles on hymns or related topics.
Adding Hymns
If you would like to add a hymnal or a few hymns, we have a method set up. It involves entering information into an Excel spreadsheet. Further information is available.
