Collection of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, Suited to the Various Occasions of Public Worship and Private Devotion of the Church of Christ, the first English hymnbook of the American Mennonites, was published at Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 1847 (called, however, A Selection instead of Collection), reprinted 6 times at Mountain Valley (Singers Glen), Virginia (1851, 1855, 1859, 1868, 1872, 1877), by Joseph Funk & Sons (last two editions by Joseph Funk's Sons); also reprinted 4 times by John Baer's Sons at Lancaster (1862, 1864, 1869, 1875) and 3 times by the Mennonite Publishing Company at Elkhart (1880, 1883, 1884, jointly published at Elkhart, Indiana, by John F. Funk (1868, 1872) and was reprinted at Scottdale, Pennsylvania, in 1948, 1953, and 1958. This small hymnal without musical notation, and with 363 hymns (ultimately 402 plus 65 in an appendix) was edited by a committee composed of Joseph Funk, David Hartman, Joseph Wenger. It carried a German appendix of 27 hymns (later 37) from 1857.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 1074. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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