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

Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Selmer Hovland

This singing square is based on a popular song of the day. Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes" was written in 1952 and appeared in several country versions and a #1 hit in a pop version by… View item
Sound

Spinning Wheel - Selmer Hovland, 1954

Excerpt from another live recording of Selmer Hovland at Kirkwood Lodge View item
Sound

Middle of the Mound - Selmer Hovland, patter

This is a live recording of Selmer Hovland, from Wagon Mound, New Mexico, calling at Kirkwood Lodge, Missouri. Hovland was a staff member at a Square Dance Institute that featured Les Gotcher. (One of… View item
Still Image

Kirkwood Lodge ad - 1954

This advertisement is for Kirkwood Lodge (Osage Beach, Missouri), the venue sponsoring the second annual Les Gotcher Square Dance Institute. The 1950s saw a dramatic increase in the number of square… View item
Moving Image

A Past To Remember - NSDC 1976

This half-hour video documents the 1976 National Square Dance Convention, held in Anaheim, CA. It was the largest NSDC in history, coming at the time of the Bicentennial. It included an elaborate… View item
Document

Les Gotcher choreography, 1958

The transcription is shown here; you can hear audio clip under Additional Files. If you open that audio in a separate tab, you can listen while you follow along the text.Jim Mayo: "Les Gotcher was… View item
Document

Duluth Stomp (original choreo)

Original description of Duluth Stomp View item
Moving Image

Duluth Stomp

Square dance figure originally created by Lloyd Yesberger (Duluth, MN) and published in Sets in Order, March, 1953. Caller Jim Saxe took the dance and modified it, keeping the key figure, the series… View item
Document

Classic Squares of 1960 - CALLERLAB demonstration

This is the handout of a workshop held at CALLERLAB's 2001 convention. The goal was to illustrate square dancing in 1960, a time when modern square dancing was branching off in new directions. This… View item
Document

Aggie Haylofters - Colorado

Author Cal Campbell shares his memories of dancing with the Aggie Haylofters, a square dance group at Colorado State University. (CSU was Colorado A&M until it changed its name in the 1950s;… View item
Sound

Deuce Williams - Patter

These are two clips of Deuce Williams calling. The first we think was recorded in New England in the late 1960s - 1970s; the second is a California recording from 1977. Jim Mayo writes: "Deuce… View item
Sound

Deuce Williams - teaching Curlique

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