Singing for freedom : the Hutchinson Family Singers and the nineteenth-century culture of reform / Scott Gac.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-299) and index.

Prelude. Opening theme : the Hutchinson Family Singers as reformers ; First variation : the Hutchinsons' commercial success and legacy -- Part first. Exposition : the Civil War and the postbellum problem of antislavery ; Development, scene one, 1893 : the legacy of the Hutchinson Family Singers and of antislavery reform ; Scene two, the 1840s : music and antislavery, the Hutchinson Family Singers as public abolitionists -- Part second. First section : origins of the Hutchinson family, 1800-1830 ; Second section : the Hutchinson children and some initial musical influences ; First section (modified) : Milford, the Hutchinson family, religion, and culture -- Intermission (bridge to part third). Changes in a northern land : religion, politics, and culture, 1820-1840 ; Manufactured nature -- Part third. First section : music (the Hutchinsons' first concert) ; Second section : a music career and the hunt for an identity, 1841 -- Coda to first section : music (music publishing and the Hutchinsons' 1843 hits) -- Part fourth. Theme : leisure and politics in 1844 ; First variation : money for nothing? The Hutchinson family singers as communitarians ; Second variation : Hutchinson Family Singers fans and the weight of sympathy -- Finale. Exposition : American antislavery abroad, racially mixed audiences at home ; Development : antiwar culture and political antislavery, 1845-1848 ; Recapitulation, opening : Abby's retirement, 1849 -- Recapitulation, closing : the end of the Hutchinson Family Singers ; Coda to part first : John and Fred, the 1893 Danvers Meeting, the 1893 World Expo, and the trajectory of black and white antebellum reform -- Appendix : lyrics to select Hutchinson Family Singers songs.

Print version record.

In the two decades prior to the Civil War, the "Hutchinson Family Singers of New Hampshire" became America's most popular musical act. Out of a Baptist revival upbringing, John, Asa, Judson, and Abby Hutchinson transformed themselves in the 1840s into national icons, taking up the reform issues of their age and singing out especially for temperance and antislavery reform. This engaging book is the first to tell the full story of the Hutchinsons, how they contributed to the transformation of American culture, and how they originated the marketable American protest song. Through concerts, writings, sheet music publications, and books of lyrics the "Hutchinson Family Singers" established a new space for civic action, a place at the intersection of culture, reform, religion, and politics. The book documents the Hutchinsons' impact on abolition and other reform projects and offers an original conception of the rising importance of popular culture in antebellum America.

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