American Squares
Charley Thomas edited the early issues of American Squares. The April 1952 issue marks the transition to Rickey Holden as editor. Later issues were edited or overseen by Rod LaFarge and Frank Kaltman and then Arvid Olson.
Rickey Holden wrote on October 10, 2010, "The magazine American Squares was started by Charley Thomas (of the Camden, New Jersey, area) about September 1945(?). At that time Charley was buying and selling books and records (mostly limited to square and contra dance material). About 1951, Frank Kaltman and I bought Charley's operation. I took over editing and and publishing the magazine in San Antonio, Texas, and, later, in Arden (near Wilmington), Delaware. Frank and I drove a truck from Newark down to Charley's house, packed up all his stock of books and records, and drove [to Newark, New Jersey], unloaded it all to Folkraft (then at 1159 Broad Street in Newark), whence Frank then handled all sales. When I started world traveling, I could no longer run the magazine, so Frank hired Rod to edit it – which Rod did from v11n11 (July, 1958) to v15n1 (September 1959)."
A major effort was to digitize and make available online a complete set of American Squares and its successor publications, New American Squares and American Squaredance. This was supported in part by the Square Dance History Project and the Library of Traditional Music and Dance at the University of New Hampshire--UNH scanned the earliest copies, and Gardner Patton scanned the others.
The agreement with the current publisher allows us to make available online all issues except those of the five most recent years. As of September, 2015, you will find issues through 2009 available online here. Gardner Patton has created a useful index to all issues on his website, along with a detailed explaination of the various name changes.
Subjects: Journal / newsletter
Tags: American Squaredance, American Squares, Arvid Olson, Charley Thomas, Frank Kaltman, journal, magazine, Rickey Holden, Rod LaFarge
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Rickey Holden wrote on October 10, 2010, "The magazine American Squares was started by Charley Thomas (of the Camden, New Jersey, area) about September 1945(?). At that time Charley was buying and selling books and records (mostly limited to square and contra dance material). About 1951, Frank Kaltman and I bought Charley's operation. I took over editing and and publishing the magazine in San Antonio, Texas, and, later, in Arden (near Wilmington), Delaware. Frank and I drove a truck from Newark down to Charley's house, packed up all his stock of books and records, and drove [to Newark, New Jersey], unloaded it all to Folkraft (then at 1159 Broad Street in Newark), whence Frank then handled all sales. When I started world traveling, I could no longer run the magazine, so Frank hired Rod to edit it – which Rod did from v11n11 (July, 1958) to v15n1 (September 1959)."
A major effort was to digitize and make available online a complete set of American Squares and its successor publications, New American Squares and American Squaredance. This was supported in part by the Square Dance History Project and the Library of Traditional Music and Dance at the University of New Hampshire--UNH scanned the earliest copies, and Gardner Patton scanned the others.
The agreement with the current publisher allows us to make available online all issues except those of the five most recent years. As of September, 2015, you will find issues through 2009 available online here. Gardner Patton has created a useful index to all issues on his website, along with a detailed explaination of the various name changes.