FAQ

If this website did not open when the CD was inserted in your computer, then open "My Computer" or "Windows Explorer" (on a Winxx computer) and double-click on the "index.htm" file.

The owner of this website is Douglas D. Anderson of Tigard, Oregon, United States of America.
At this time, I do not gather or track any type of personal information concerning visitors to this site. I have not and do not intend to use "cookies" to track individuals who visit the site.
I may in the future track the names and email addresses of individuals and webmasters who request to be notified of changes to the site. Any such individuals may request that their names and email addresses be removed from such records, and I will promptly comply with such a request.
However, any such information will be kept in the strictest confidence; there will be no disclosure of any personal information to any third party.

The balance of this page is a duplicate of the FAQ page on the website.

It all started so innocently. I was playing guitar in a bluegrass trio. The leader of the group, Dick Weber, suggested that we do a mini-concert at a local VA nursing home during the holiday season. I've always loved Christmas carols, and volunteered to get a few together.
That was in 1996, and I've just keep adding and adding to the collection.

The purpose of this site is to preserve the rich history of carols and hymns which might otherwise be lost. Since it would be impractical to publish in book form, the collection is posted to the World Wide Web (As of March 31, 2002 the printed collection consists of 1,451 hymns and carols, and is 21" wide -- seven 3-inch binders containing over 2,350 pages!) The ultimate goal is to have the largest collection of hymns and carols of Christmas ever published in the English language.

I began the incorporation process of the main collection on January 7, 2002. It's a time-consuming process, so it will be a while before the whole thing (excluding songs under copyright) can be added to the site. Please check back.  I'll note my progress on the What's New page to this site.

A primary source for older hymns and carols are old hymnals and collections of carols. I've got about three dozen old hymnals or collections of carols which formed the basis of the collection.  Other hymns and carols have been collected from more contemporary collections (subject to copyright restrictions) and other web sites, credit is given in the Bibliography.
In addition, I have acquired other collections that have not yet been incorporated.  For example, I recently acquired a copy of Carols Old and Carols New by Rev. Charles Hutchins (1916).  It is a terrific resource; of its over 450 Christmas hymns or carols, more than 300 are not represented in this collection (yet).  Incorporation will begin after the basic collection is converted into web pages.

I'm always on the lookout for a carol or hymn which would be appropriate for inclusion, or for information about a particular hymn or carol which has heretofore escaped my attention (author, composer, history, etc.).  If you know of one, please email it to me (lyrics, background, and music in any of several formats:  MIDI, scans of the music (in GIF or JPG), or Noteworthy Composer® files -- a free player is available at their site; you'll need the reader to see scores that are saved on this site.). If I use the material you send, I'll give appropriate credit in the Bibliography.

In most cases, MIDI files have been obtained from other sites on the Internet.  I've sequenced only a very few myself, but expect to sequence more of them in the future, using Noteworthy Composer®.  In all cases, I have retained any internal authorship identification.
You will need to have a program on your computer that will play MIDI files in order to access files.  Windows® users can use the built-in Media Player® or other similar program.  As I don't speak Apple, I can't make any recommendations for users of MACs;  the same applies to users of other operating systems, such as Linux.  My best advise is to go to CNET; select the "Downloads" section and do a search.

Music scores are in the Noteworthy Composer®  format, which is a program in which you can view, generate or modify files which can be printed as musical scores (or saved as MIDI files).  In order to access these files, you will need to download the free Noteworthy Player®.
By the way, I do not provide support for Noteworthy Composer® or any other program that is needed to view the files on this site.  Please contact the authors of such programs for support. I do not intend to support other formats, such as Finale® or Scorch®.  Please don't ask; I have neither the time nor the money to do so.

There is an issue of copyright. Almost everything written since approximately 1923 is under copyright, both the words and the music (or contemporary arrangements of older music).  These songs will not be included on this web site unless the copyright holder permits it (at this time, I will not be seeking these permissions).  In some cases, for example the Alfred Burt carols, the carols are posted on a site of someone who has obtained the rights to post the carols from the copyright holder.  In such cases, I've linked to those sites; all external links will open in a new window.

If I have inadvertently included a carol or hymn which is under copyright, and if you want that material omitted from this site, please email me. I'll remove it as quickly as I can (which might take a few days if I'm ill, out of town, or if the computer is down; your patience is appreciated).

In sum, if a carol or hymn is listed, it is in my collection. If linked, it is in the public domain (as far as I can tell) or linked to a site with copyright (for example, Austin Rudy, Albert Burt, and the Rabid Fans Sports Carols). If unlinked, it is under copyright and not available at this site (in some cases I have created a page with basic information about the hymn or carol, but not including the lyrics or music, as appropriate).

However, many such carols and hymns are widely available at other sites on the Internet.  I've tried to provide links to other major collections on the Links page and in the Bibliography. If you have such a collection that I am unaware of, please email me; I'll gladly add a link to your site (especially if you offer a link back to this site ;).

I have intentionally excluded from this collection humor and parodies of carols in the areas named below. In each case, I feel that the humor is misplaced, usually in a poor attempt to ridicule human conditions which either the individual has little or no control, or where there is simply nothing to celebrate. Following each area (except obscenity) is an example of an actual carol parody or collection of parodies which has been excluded.

Alcohol abuse and alcoholism ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Wino", "Drinking Around the Christmas Tree")
Animal abuse ("Chipmunks Roasting On An Open Fire")
Drug abuse (i.e., "Frosty the Snowman" -- Cocaine).
Obscenity (which needs no examples; I want this to be a family-safe site!)
Racism (i.e., "Inner City Carols", "An Ebonics Christmas")
Sexual innuendo ("Sheila and Joy"; "Santa Claus Is Wearing A Gown")
Violence ("Frosty the Hit Man", "Landmine Christmas Carols", "Santa Claus Is Wielding A Gun"), and
Generally lacking in the Christmas spirit (i.e., "Sweatshop Christmas Carols", "Clinton Christmas Jokes", "I've Had Christmas Up To Here!")

If you're interested, these and others can be readily found on the World Wide Web.  I've tried to provide links to other major collections on the Links page and in the Bibliography.

A Search function is planned, but hasn't been implemented yet. Use of the FrontPage search page would exclude the search from CD ROM users, so I am planning to use a Java-based applet.  I'm working on getting this implemented.
In the meantime, there is a Table of Contents.  You can search that or any of the indices.

Please feel free to link to this site.  You don't need my permission, but I would like to get the names and email addresses of the web masters of any sites that link to this one. I don't have any intention of moving the site in the future, but if it does happen, I will send an email to anyone that I know is linked, so that they can update their site. I would recommend linking only to the main page (in case I made any internal changes to the structure of the site).
In addition, I will gladly link-back to your site.

You can feel free to copy any and all files that strike your fancy.  Downloading the entire site would probably be too time-consuming for most of us who have a dial-up connection; the current size is over 120 MB and growing (if you have DSL, cable-access or a T-1, feel free to knock yourself and your bandwidth out). 

Once the full collection is published, I intend to offer a CD of this web site.  My intent is to keep the price under $10 US if possible. Once we get to that point, I'll set up an account at a secure site that specializes in electronic transfers, such as PayPal®.  I'll post a notice here and on the What's New page.

This site and all its contents are copyright. The only reason for this is to prevent someone else from copying the site, setting up another, slapping a copyright on it, charging a fortune to get copies, and forcing me to close this web site.  It's happened to others (the strangest story of all: a private "entrepreneur" copied a public-domain family-support military site, reposted it under another name, and posted a copyright notice! Go figure.).