Lowell Mason (1792–1872), the founder of institutionalized music education in American public schools, believed that singing had a “happy influence … upon the feelings and manners and morals of the rising generation, on whose character the future destiny of the country depends.” For this reason he urged fellow Bostonian Sarah Josepha Hale to write her book of poems for children, and then, a year after it was published, to allow him to put “Mary’s Lamb” to music for the first time. From that moment on, the poem and the music that accompanied it would be inseparable. Interestingly, this collection was the first songbook published in the United States intended for use in public schools.

Boston Public Library, Rare Books & Manuscripts