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Hymnology collection

By Elli Torres | 18 March 2021

Series: Discover State Library’s Music Collections.

This blog series showcases some of the wonderful music collections held by State Library of Queensland. Among these are music scores, song books, digitised sheet music, hymn books and online databases. Discover our music collections via our online catalogue One Search and onsite.

Hymn books and hymnology resources

State Library’s hymnology collection is a research collection containing over 3500 items and is among the strongest of its kind in Australia. The collection contains hymn books for most Christian denominations. Among these are Australian hymn books as well as hymn books in languages other than English. The collection also contains reference materials such as indexes, prayer books and handbooks. There are hymn books as early as the 1600’s and as recent as 2006.

Hymn books from State Library's music collection

A selection of hymn books from State Library's music collection

Here are a few of the catalogue searches for hymn books and reference works to get you started.


While browsing the hymnology collection via the above links you will notice that this collection is prefixed with the letters CABLE. This is a reference to the donor of our early hymnology collection.
 

Accessing the hymnology collection

The hymnology collection is not for loan, however, access to the collection can be easily arranged onsite. Items can be viewed on Level 4 in the John Oxley Library Heritage Collections area. A booking for the space can be made online and items can be requested via the online catalogue, One Search.

Research desks in the Heritage collection JOL area

John Oxley Library Heritage Collections area

Need help locating collection items?

Our Librarians can help you find resources and offer guidance with searching. There are several ways you can Ask Us for assistance. We can help during your visit onsite, over the phone, via our online chat service or through our online enquiry form.

World Piano Day

Join us on Monday 29 March 2021 as we celebrate Piano Day with a free public performance by State Library’s volunteer pianists on the beautiful Queensland Terrace. Bookings are required.

Read other blogs in the #MusicCollections series.

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