Producing the “Kumbaya” Artifact

Topic: CRS Version
The cast has been assembled, and now is the time to direct its actions in producing the first songbook to contain “Kumbaya.”  The curtain rises on the 1954 Buckeye Recreation Workshop held in Urbana, Ohio.

This most likely is when Kathryn Thompson Good [1] heard “Kumbaya” and first thought about having Lynn Rohrbough print a songbook for her Methodist, family camp in Columbus.  In addition to whatever singing occurred during the week, someone held a session on “community group singing.” [2]

Lynn was there at least one day when he talked about play-parties.  Others from Delaware, Ohio, like Mary Lea Bailey, may have been there for the folk dancing.  Mary Lea or Lynn probably had a display of wooden games offered by World Wide Games, [3] and CRS, no doubt, had samples of its songbooks available.

Someone from the Indianola Church had to have contacted CRS, and signed some kind of agreement.  While both Rohrbough and Larry Holcomb have discussed the production of songbooks, this business aspect was not mentioned. [4]  Two factors were included in setting the price: the number of pages and the number of original plates.  Pages were in multiples of eight, [5] with 64 pages the most common size for small songsters I own. [6]  The number of songs usually was greater.

In 2016, John Blocher recalled he “worked with Tommy [Kathryn Thompson Good] and  Lynn Rohrbough” and that he did “not remember receiving any outside advice beyond what Tommy and I brought to the table.” [7]

Blocher did not remember when they sent their package to CRS, but did recall “my notation would have been penciled onto printed staff paper, of which I had a supply.” [8]

When the packet was received, Lynn said “music editing was supervised by Katherine Rohrbough” and that the manuscript for “Kumbaya” would have been turned over to Jane Keen. [9]

Keen was using curved tails on the eighth notes, and italics for the tempo instructions.  Her treble clef signs all are at different angles.  She must have believed “Kum ba yah” was a foreign word, because she treated it with italics.  While the font was sans-serif, the “K” had a finial on its leg.  The leg was attached to the ascender, and that connected with the stem below the x-height line.  The thin ascender, whose length varied, drew the eye itself. [10]

The song then went to Sara Bailey.  She normally added “the body-text and footnotes” with the vari-type machine described in the post for 8 May 2022. [11]  “Come by Here” is in the style used by that machine, but the subtitle must have been done by Keen: it has the same “K” as the text.

The footnote font differs from the verses below it.  The “c” in the note reaches below the baseline, while the “c” in “crying” does not.  The leg comes from the ascender, which is attached to the stem at the x-height line.  It rises at a more acute able than the leg, which has no finial.  If this were prepared for off-set, Bailey would have assembled the pieces.

Following Rohrbough’s process description, the credit and pronunciation information must have come from Katherine Ferris Rohrbough.  It was not on the manuscript Blocher sent.  Where she got it is speculation, but most likely was someone from CRS who attended the 1954 Buckeye Workshop.

Sara then began the layout process.  The first step was finding another song on the list approved by Good and Blocher that would fit on the page.  By one of the odd coincidences that occur, she chose “Dona Nobis Pacem,” which CRS translated as “give us peace” in 1944. [12]  This pairing was not permanent.  In the 1957 example below, the song is placed with “Jacob’s Ladder.”

The next step was the most complex.  The pages were twice the width and folded, with songs on both halves and both sides.

I do not have a complete copy of Indianola Sings.  This example is taken from a later songbook.

Page layout was part of the complete organization of a songster, since many grouped genres like hymns and folk songs together.  Once those decisions were made, page numbers could be added.

 

 

The index could now be compiled, and the design for the cover complete.  Most songbooks had the index on the inside covers, and sometimes on the last page or back inside cover.  The example is on the inside and outside of the back cover with a classification of songs.

The individual paired pages were grouped on larger sheets of four pairs or eight pages, [13] depending on how one counts.  The copy was ready for printing.  Decisions about paper and ink colors were made, perhaps with advice from customers.  More important, someone decided which presses to use for the body and the cover—offset or letterpress.  Oscar Bailey handled the one, while John Leininger and Hugh Macmillan operated the other. [14]

Since the order from Indianola may have been comparatively small, the letter press may have been selected early.  This would have given Keen more freedom in her lettering.

The process of assembly involved several machines.  One cut the large pages into individual paired pages.  Next, Rohrboughs said:

“The flat sheets were folded into 4x7-inch signatures by Dan Warner on an automatic folder.  The three pats making up the booklet were next collated and stitched by Violet Dewitt and Doris Warner and made ready for the cutter.  The folded edges were trimmed on three sides by Howard Blanchard.” [15]

“Pats” seems to refer to material from different press runs.  Normally, the cover and the body needed to be brought together, but sometimes an insert was printed on different colored paper.

Indianola Sings probably bypassed the shipping department.  More than likely, Good or Blocher drove up from Columbus to pick up the finished songsters.

All this was provided to the Indianola Church for about $70.00.  In 1963, CRS charged $.19 for a single 64-page book, or $36.36 for 200 copies.  The plates for new music cost $12 each, and Blocher sent two: “Kumbaya” and the camp’s song, which he had written. [16]  Then the artwork for the cover cost $8.75. [17]

Graphics
Map.  David Benbennick.  “Delaware County, Ohio.”  Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons on 12 February 2006.

Original version of “Come By Here”/“Kum Ba Yah.”  Indianola Sings, edited by Kathryn Thompson Good and John Blocher, Jr. for Camp Indianola, sponsored by the Indianola Methodist Church, Columbus, Ohio.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, 18 March 1955.  38.  Date from Lynn Rohrbough. [18]  Copy provided by John Blocher, Jr.

1957 version of “Come By Here”/“Kum Ba Yah.”  The Bridge of Song, edited by Max V. Exner for the Iowa State College Extension Music Program.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, Cooperative Song Service, 1957.  30.  This book was chosen because I had two copies and it was safe to take one a part.

End Notes
1.  Kathryn Thompson Good is discussed in the post for 10 October 2021 and her photograph appears on the PicK tab.

2.  Larry Nial Holcomb.  “A History of the Cooperative Recreation Service.”  PhD dissertation.  University of Michigan, 1972.  87.

3.  Mary Lea Bailey and World Wide Games are discussed in the post for 22 May 2022.

4.  By the time Holcomb was working with Lynn, “most of the business records before 1960 have been destroyed.” [19]

5.  L. Rohrbough. “Spring report to cooperative songbook patrons,” Spring 1962.  1.  Quoted by Holcomb.  124.

6.  Among the books I have that are 64 pages are ones from The Methodist Church, [20] Camp Winnipesaukee, [21] and the Church of the Brethren. [22]  National organizations seem to have created larger books: the Camp Fire Girls’ Joyful Singing is 80 pages, [23] Exner’s The Bridge of Song is 96, and the YWCA’s 1951 edition of Sing Along the Way is 128. [24]

7.  John Blocher, Jr.  Email, 25 June 2016.  His photograph and biography appear on the PicK tab.

8.  John Blocher, Jr.  Email, 20 June 2016.

9.  “How a Sampler Is Made.”  Song Sampler, Number 3:7–8: July 1956.  Quoted by Holcomb.  134.  “The music autographs were hand-drawn by Jane Keen.”  Keen is discussed in the post for 24 April 2022.

10.  Keen used upright type for the Latin “Dona Nobis Pacem” and the sung syllables in “Holla Hi.”  The terminology for typography is explained in the post for 8 May 2022.

11.  “How a Sampler Is Made.”

12.  “Done Nobis Pacem.”  Songs of Many Nations, for the Evangelical and Reformed Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, Custom Printed Songs, 1944.  3.  “Dona nobis pacem” is from the “Agnus Dei section” of the Roman Catholic Latin mass. [25]  The source of the canon is unknown. [26]  The songbook is discussed in the post for 6 March 2022.

13.  “How a Sampler Is Made.”

14.  “How a Sampler Is Made.”  Oscar Bailey, John Leininger, and Hugh Macmillan are discussed in the post for 1 May 2022.  Leininger was the compositor and Macmillan the printer. [27]

15.  “How a Sampler Is Made.”  Stitching involved stapling the books together.  Two were used.  Photograph from Bridge of Song.

16.  John Blocher, Jr.  Email, April 28, 2016.  “She and I assembled the Camp Song Book,  Indianola Sings for which I wrote the camp song Indianola.”

17.  Rohrbough, 1962.  1.

18.  Lynn Rohrbough.  Letter to Shawnee Press.  16 February 1959.  Copy provided by Bruce Greene, World Around Songs, Burnsville, North Carolina.  “We published it this way March 18, 1955.”

19.  Holcomb.  104.

20.  Sing It Again!, for The Methodist Church, Nashville, Tennessee.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, Cooperative Song Service.  This is discussed in the post for 9 February 2020.

21.  In Harmony.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, Cooperative Song Service.  It has a reference to the United Catholic Youth Ministries and camps on Lake Geneva and the Winnipesaukee River.

22.  Come Up Higher, for Church of the Brethren, Elgin, Illinois.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, Cooperative Song Service.

23.  Joyful Singing, for The Campfire Outfitting Company, New York City.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, Cooperative Song Service.  This is discussed in the post for 20 February 2022.

24.  Sing Along the Way, edited by Marie Oliver for the YWCA, New York City.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, Cooperative Song Service, 1951, fifth printing.  This is discussed in the posts for 13 March 20220 and 20 March 2020.

25.  “Dona Nobis Pacem.”  Wikipedia website.
26.  “Dona Nobis Pacem (Round).”  Wikipedia website.
27.  Holcomb.  135.