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
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Clayton Eighters - guidelines

Toward the start of the square dance boom in the St. Louis area, there were three clubs that sponsored Lloyd Shaw's visit: The Lancers, Boots and Belles, and The Promenaders. However, at the same… View item
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George Greene - Lloyd Shaw letters

This is correspondence between St. Louis dance organizer George Greene and Lloyd Shaw, setting up a 1952 visit by Shaw to the area. Note that Shaw indicates (p. 3) that he will come for expenses and… View item
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St. Louis square dancers, early 1950s

These photos are from the early St. Louis square dance scene, organized in part by George Greene and his wife, Betty. George Greene played an active role bringing to the St. Louis area some of the… View item
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Beatnik square dance

All forms of social dance reflect changes in the broader society in which they take place. This call, found in an unidentified caller's notebook, dates from the 1950s and shows a common set of… View item
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New England Contras from a Western Caller's Point of View

This is the third in a series by Jack McKay, California square dance caller. Written in 1952, it's an attempt to look at the challenges of calling New England contras compared to Western squares,… View item
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Hand position in MWSD

The formation of CALLERLAB in 1974 established definitions and helped modern square dancing become more standardized. This does not mean that everything fell neatly into place! The cover illustration… View item
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Modern Square Dance History - Jim Mayo

This summary of developments and trends in modern square dance was written by Jim Mayo. This illustrated version appeared inBehind the Mic, a square dance journal from Australia. View item
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Summer Institute, Asilomar, 1957

InAs I See It, Bob Osgood devotes an entire chapter to Asilomar, a series of summer square dance institutes sponsored bySets in Order magazine. Asilomar was a conference facility that Osgood had… View item
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Sets in Order - office people

This series of photographs shows some of the people involved with producingSets in Ordermagazine. The first picture shows Bob Osgood in the center at what appears to be an editorial meeting. Artist… View item
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Joseph Fadler photographs

Joseph Fadler took hundreds of photographs for Sets in Order magazine. This is a selection from the Fadler Collection at the University of Denver. It includes photos of dancing, women's attire, and a… View item
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Frank Grundeen cartoons

Grundeen produced the cartoon that appeared on the back cover of Sets in Order for every issue.InAs I See It,Bob Osgood relates how that came about:"I had been noticing one of the class members in… View item
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Chuck Jones - square dance drawings

If Grundeen provided the back cover cartoon forSets in Order, it was Chuck Jones who produced many covers and sketches. Himself an avid square dancer and caller, and president of the Rip 'n' Snort… View item