“The Merry, Merry Month of May” was originally published in Clark’s School Visitor in May, 1862, and was later published as a songsheet. A caption title was filed for copyright entry on April 12, 1862, by Daughaday & Hammond of Philadelphia.

The tune for “The Merry, Merry Month of May” is the same as that for “The White House Chair.”

“The Pure, the Bright, the Beautiful” was published in The Athenaeum Collection of Hymns and Tunes for Church and Sunday School, which was submitted for copyright deposit on December 9, 1863, by Horace Waters.

“The Song of All Songs” was submitted for copyright deposit on December 3, 1863, by D. S. Holmes of New York.

The author of the lyrics is possibly John F. Poole, though none of Foster’s scores credit him. The words of the song appeared anonymously in Pastor’s New Irish Songster (New York: Dick and Fitzgerald, 1863). An article in the March 12, 1864, New York Clipper states that Tony Pastor claimed the song was written by Poole expressly for Pastor.

According to Evelyn Foster Mornweck’s The Chronicles of Stephen Foster’s Family:

“The Village Maiden” was submitted for copyright deposit on September 17, 1855, by Firth, Pond & Co.

According to Evelyn Foster Morneweck’s The Chronicle of Stephen Foster’s Family:

In the six months immediately following his father’s death, Stephen published only two songs, “The Village Maiden” and “Comrades, Fill No Glass for Me.” The words of “The Village Maiden” are plaintive and sad, of old-time ballad style; the melody is much better suited for religious purposes than some of the hymn tunes that he turned out later in life.