Take Me to the Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography, 1890-1950

by Lucy Sante, Jim Linderman, Steven Ledbetter

Making the past vividly present once again, Grammy winner Dust-to-Digital unveils Take Me to the Water , a revelatory examination of baptismal rites and music. Comprising a beautiful hardcover book and a CD featuring rare, vintage songs and sermons recorded between 1924-1940, Take Me to the Water draws on the collection of Jim Linderman, a scholar of American outsider art, early American folk art and daguerreotype photography. It reproduces 75 sepia photographs that depict amazing scenes of immersion baptisms-the likes of which are rarely seen today-with preacher and baptismal candidates shown immersed in the middle of the river, while the congregation looks on from the riverbank. The CD compiles rare gospel and folk recordings from original 78-rpm records, with artists such as Washington Phillips, Carter Family, Tennessee Mountaineers, the Belmont Silvertone Jubilee Singers and rare vocal recordings of baptismal sermons. Renowned writer Luc Sante provides a history of baptismal rites in America, and writes of this "Whether you have ever actually experienced a baptism or not, whether you are a believer or not, these pictures and the music that accompanies them transmit all the emotional the excitement and the serenity, the fellowship and the warmth, the wind and the water you would have to have a heart of tin not to recognize this as one of the happiest collections of archival photographs ever assembled."

Genres: History, Photography

96 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Lucy Sante was born in Verviers Belgium and emigrated to the United States in the early 1960s. Since 1984, she has been a teacher and writer, and frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books. Her publications include Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York, and The Factory of Facts and Folk Photography. She currently teaches creative writing and the history of photography at Bard College in New York State.

Reviews

[Krista Mc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book. I chose it randomly from a library display...at first I thought it was photographs from our local area but quickly realized it included a broader area of the U.S. The book is mostly photos, some text, and a CD of vintage music recordings and sermon clips. Though the book didn't take long to read, one could really go back through and study the photos more in-depth; there's lots to observe from a historical perspective...men, women, children, in vintage dress and transportation; it reinforces my appreciation for photography, especially of ordinary events. These photos have almost a haunting vibe, but in a good way (baptism is a celebratory occasion). The actual recordings are also fun and interesting to listen to--many of them were recorded in the mid 1920's. Each track is fairly brief and easy to get through. I would love to know more of the stories of the lives of those who were baptized at that particular time.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book of vintage photographs of river baptisms with essays by Luc Sante and the collector of the photographs. The accompanying cd features traditional songs and sermons about baptisms ranging from small gospel groups to country music performers.
The photographs and postcards are beautiful, sometimes reprinted along
with pictures of the revers side of the paper stock with age and water stains. These look uniquely like long lost maps of forgotten places.

[Matt Barlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, haunting, and surreal journey into the past. Highly recommend playing the included CD as you look at the photographs.

[Aaron the Pink Donut · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful and haunting. really great collection.