diff --git a/app/db/src/app/common/card-operations.spec.ts b/app/db/src/app/common/card-operations.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..54f957e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/db/src/app/common/card-operations.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+import { maybeMergeCards, mergeCardList } from './card-operations';
+import { BibleReference, Overlap } from './bible-reference';
+
+describe('Card Merging', () => {
+  it('Should merge two equal cards', () => {
+    let cardList = [
+      { type: 'Passage', qry: 'Genesis 1:1', data: null, dict: '' },
+      { type: 'Passage', qry: 'Genesis 1:1', data: null, dict: '' },
+    ];
+    for (const strat of [Overlap.Equal, Overlap.Subset]) {
+      let merged = mergeCardList(cardList, strat);
+      expect(merged.length).toBe(1);
+      expect(merged[0].qry).toEqual(new BibleReference('Genesis 1:1').toString());
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('Should merge two equal cards with one in the middle', () => {
+    let cardList = [
+      { type: 'Passage', qry: 'Genesis 1:1', data: null, dict: '' },
+      { type: 'Passage', qry: 'Genesis 1:2', data: null, dict: '' },
+      { type: 'Passage', qry: 'Genesis 1:1', data: null, dict: '' },
+    ];
+    for (const strat of [Overlap.Equal, Overlap.Subset]) {
+      let merged = mergeCardList(cardList, strat);
+      expect(merged.length).toBe(2);
+      expect(merged[0].qry).toEqual(new BibleReference('Genesis 1:1').toString());
+      expect(merged[1].qry).toEqual(new BibleReference('Genesis 1:2').toString());
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('Should merge two intersecting cards', () => {
+    let cardList = [
+      { type: 'Passage', qry: 'Genesis 1:1-2', data: null, dict: '' },
+      { type: 'Passage', qry: 'Genesis 1:1', data: null, dict: '' },
+    ];
+    for (const strat of [Overlap.Intersect, Overlap.Subset]) {
+      let merged = mergeCardList(cardList, strat);
+      expect(merged.length).toBe(1);
+      expect(merged[0].qry).toEqual(new BibleReference('Genesis 1:1 - 2').toString());
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('Should merge two intersecting cards with one in the middle', () => {
+    let cardList = [
+      { type: 'Passage', qry: 'Genesis 1:1-2', data: null, dict: '' },
+      { type: 'Passage', qry: 'Genesis 1:4', data: null, dict: '' },
+      { type: 'Passage', qry: 'Genesis 1:1', data: null, dict: '' },
+    ];
+    for (const strat of [Overlap.Intersect, Overlap.Subset]) {
+      let merged = mergeCardList(cardList, strat);
+      expect(merged.length).toBe(2);
+      expect(merged[0].qry).toEqual(new BibleReference('Genesis 1:1 - 2').toString());
+      expect(merged[1].qry).toEqual(new BibleReference('Genesis 1:4').toString());
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/app/db/src/app/common/card-operations.ts b/app/db/src/app/common/card-operations.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fcc4a4cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/db/src/app/common/card-operations.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+import { BibleReference, Overlap } from './bible-reference';
+import { CardItem } from '../models/app-state';
+
+export function maybeMergeCards(leftCard: CardItem, rightCard: CardItem, strategy: Overlap): CardItem | null {
+  if (leftCard.type === rightCard.type) {
+    switch (strategy) {
+      case Overlap.Equal:
+        if (leftCard.qry === rightCard.qry) {
+          return { ...leftCard };
+        }
+        break;
+      case Overlap.Intersect:
+      case Overlap.Subset:
+        if (leftCard.type === 'Passage') {
+          const leftRef = new BibleReference(leftCard.qry);
+          const rightRef = new BibleReference(rightCard.qry);
+          let mergedRef = BibleReference.mergeReference(leftRef, rightRef, strategy);
+          if (mergedRef !== null) {
+            return {
+              ...leftCard,
+              qry: mergedRef.toString(),
+            };
+          }
+        }
+        break;
+    }
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
+export function mergeCardList(cardList: CardItem[], strategy: Overlap) {
+  if (strategy == Overlap.None || cardList.length === 0) {
+    return [...cardList];
+  }
+  let cardListCopy = [...cardList];
+  let removals = [];
+  for (const cardIdx in cardListCopy) {
+    if (cardIdx in removals) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    for (let compareIdx = Number(cardIdx) + 1; compareIdx < cardListCopy.length; compareIdx++) {
+      const leftCard = cardListCopy[cardIdx];
+      const rightCard = cardListCopy[compareIdx];
+      let mergedCard = maybeMergeCards(leftCard, rightCard, strategy);
+      if (mergedCard != null) {
+        cardListCopy[cardIdx] = mergedCard;
+        removals.push(compareIdx);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  for (const idx of removals) {
+    cardListCopy.splice(idx, 1);
+  }
+  return cardListCopy;
+}
diff --git a/app/db/src/app/models/app-state.ts b/app/db/src/app/models/app-state.ts
index 19a3b2d0..09b0724c 100644
--- a/app/db/src/app/models/app-state.ts
+++ b/app/db/src/app/models/app-state.ts
@@ -3,12 +3,14 @@ import { NoteItem } from './note-state';
 import { BiblePassageResult } from './passage-state';
 import { StrongsResult } from './strongs-state';
 import { WordLookupResult } from './words-state';
+import { Overlap } from '../common/bible-reference';
 
 export interface AppState {
   readonly currentSavedPage: SavedPage;
   readonly savedPages: IStorable<readonly SavedPage[]>;
   readonly notes: IStorable<readonly NoteItem[]>;
   readonly displaySettings: IStorable<DisplaySettings>;
+  readonly pageSettings: IStorable<PageSettings>;
   readonly savedPagesLoaded: boolean;
   readonly mainPages: readonly Page[];
   readonly cards: readonly CardItem[];
@@ -38,6 +40,10 @@ export interface CardIcons {
   readonly note: string;
 }
 
+export interface PageSettings {
+  readonly mergeStrategy: Overlap;
+}
+
 export interface DisplaySettings {
   readonly showStrongsAsModal: boolean;
 
@@ -72,6 +78,7 @@ export interface SavedPage {
 export interface CardItem {
   readonly qry: string;
   readonly data: Data;
+  // TODO(jwall): This should probably be an enum
   readonly type: string;
   readonly dict: string;
 }
diff --git a/app/db/src/app/services/app.service.ts b/app/db/src/app/services/app.service.ts
index 2a6cf7e7..06b2492e 100644
--- a/app/db/src/app/services/app.service.ts
+++ b/app/db/src/app/services/app.service.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { HttpClient } from '@angular/common/http';
 import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
 import { AppState, SavedPage, Error, CardItem, DisplaySettings, User } from '../models/app-state';
-import { Section, BibleReference } from '../common/bible-reference';
+import { Section, BibleReference, Overlap } from '../common/bible-reference';
 import { PageTitles, PageIcons } from '../constants';
 import { createStateService } from '../common/state-service';
 import { UUID } from 'angular2-uuid';
@@ -68,6 +68,12 @@ const initialState: AppState = {
       syncCardsAcrossDevices: false,
     },
   },
+  pageSettings: {
+    createdOn: new Date(0).toISOString(),
+    value: {
+      mergeStrategy: Overlap.Subset,
+    },
+  },
   cardIcons: {
     words: 'font_download',
     passage: 'menu_book',
@@ -245,7 +251,7 @@ function reducer(state: AppState, action: AppAction): AppState {
         {
           id: state.currentSavedPage.id,
           title: state.currentSavedPage.title,
-          queries: [...state.cards],
+          queries: [...state.cards], // need a function that processes the cards to merge references.
         },
       ]);
 
@@ -261,7 +267,7 @@ function reducer(state: AppState, action: AppAction): AppState {
           // create a new saved page object
           title: action.title,
           id: UUID.UUID().toString(),
-          queries: [...state.cards],
+          queries: [...state.cards], // need a function that processes the cards to merge references.
         },
       ]);