Square Dance History Project
The rich story of North American square dance finally has a home in the digital age.

Browse Items (499 total)

  • Collection: MWSD
Sound

I Get The Blues for Mammy - Bob Fisk

The original song was recorded by Bill Boyd and His Cowboy Ramblers, Bluebird 8422 A. View item
Website

Square Dancing - Bob Osgood film, 1951

Film made by Bob Osgood / Sets in Order in 1951 to popularize square dancing.A discussion among square dance enthusiasts on the history of the film can be found here. As that discussion reveals, a… View item
Moving Image

Asilomar 1973 - Frank Lane

Three films from Bob Osgood's collection showing dancers at the 1973 gathering at Asilomar, California.The first film shows dancers practicing allemande thar, followed by a round dance sequence (Left… View item
Moving Image

Bob Osgood - The World Dances

Excerpt from 1954 film. At 1:08, dancers start the Texas Whirl, with women making a circle underneath the men starring. At 2:24, Osgood calls an extended Rip and Snort to finish up the dance. Bob… View item
Moving Image

Bob Osgood - square dance television program

Bob Osgood, publisher of Sets in Order, was an enthusiastic promoter of square dance and a follower of Lloyd Shaw. Here is an early broadcast that illustrates Osgood's attempts to reach a home viewing… View item
Sound

Bob Osgood

This is a short clip from a tip called by Bob Osgood at the 1954 National Square Dance Convention in Dallas, Texas. The choreography is a 3 Ladies Chain routine. View item
Document

Fenton "Jonesy" Jones - Sets in Order, February 1961

Cover drawing and appreciation of the caller View item
Website

Sets in Order yearbooks

Bob Osgood published in 1954 a Five Year Book that printed every dance that had been published in Sets in Order in the first five years. In 1956 he issued the first Yearbook that included everything… View item
Document

Square Dance Camps - 1951

As the wave of square dancing took off in the post World War II era, callers and organizers responded with a number of weekend and weeklong camps to cater to the growing interest. This editorial from… View item
Document

Bob Osgood on Lee Kopman

This piece fromSquare Dancing(later title of what had been Sets in Order)describes the appearance on the Phil Donahue Show of caller Lee Kopman and a group of square dancers. View item
Moving Image

Bob Osgood - television program #2

A later broadcast of Osgood's television show, this time featuring his first guest caller (2:25), Ray Shaw, the brother of Lloyd Shaw. Ray Shaw was one of the few square dance callers in the Los… View item