Special Collections

          The Sellers-Martin Hymnal Collection contains 239 titles which once belonged to Ernest Orlando Sellers and William Plunkett Martin. In all, there are over 400 hymnals in this collection. Contained in the collection is valuable information pertinent to the study of gospel hymnody and persons active in the gospel hymn movement.

     Edmond D. Keith

   Edmond D. Keith

     Ernest O. Sellers

   Ernest O. Sellers

A new addition to the Martin Music Library resources is the Online Center for Hymnological Research (CHR), an online digital archive of the rare hymnals in the music library collection.  Dr. Ed Steele has been the project manager and coordinator of this endeavor.  This on-going project provides PDFs of these rare documents for your perusal and research.


     The Edmond D. Keith Collection consists of about 5,000 books, hymnals, scores, and other materials pertinent to research in church music. Many of these materials are rare. This collection is the source of many primary source materials in the Martin Music Library. Edmond D. Keith (1909-1992) was an alumnus of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a pioneer Southern Baptist Hymnologist.
Amazing Grace
"Amazing Grace" first appeared together with the tune NEW BRITAIN in Southern Harmony (1835) compiled by composer and teacher William Walker. The copy contained in the Martin Music Library rare holdings is part of the Keith Collection.
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