What secular slave songs we have, have been included in the Spirituals Permathread, since so many of the work songs were religious in text but were used at work, and since coded meanings are hard to untangle at this late date. Authors' print collections often lump them together in one book (altho in categories), so I think we might as well put them all together in one place. However, as they were posted, whatever was known about their type or origin was included in the thread, and more can always be added-- nature of the medium.

In education settings, the Cleveland index of spirituals in print is considered the standard reference, altho it was INcomplete in the last edition I saw. I have a personal-use index that goes beyond the books that Cleveland included, and of course, Cleveland does not include Mudcat as a print source and thus, whatever the Spirituals Permathread team found from rare sources and posted, may very well NOT be in Cleveland.

I'm satisfied with the usefulness of what we have organized here, and I would not be in favor of attracting additional attention to it by offering it as a print source. It's a resource that was created as a free part of Mudcat, and it should stay that way. Nor do I consider our work here authoritative enough to be cited formally-- it was compiled as a resource for singers, more than as a resource for researchers.

We always welcome folks adding to it, and it will evolve accordingly, but hopefully in the spirit in which it was created by the folks who worked on it first.

~Susan