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

Browse Items (353 total)

  • Collection: Northern squares
Moving Image

Canadian Four Step

There are many examples of couple dances included in the SDHP collection.Click on this linkto go to a listing.Fall dance of the Canadian Olde Tyme Square Dance Callers' Association, a group formed in… View item
Document

Honest John - 1950

This collection of newspaper articles all focus on the dance "Honest John," a specialty of dancers in the Upper Connecticut River Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont. Comments in italics are… View item
Still Image

NH/VT squares, 1940s & 1950s

This is a collection of articles from the Hanover (NH)Gazette and the Bradford (VT) United Opinion, reporting on square dances in the area (New Hampshire and Vermont) in the 1940s and early 1950s.… View item
Still Image

Otto and Marguerite Wood – photos

Three photos of Otto Wood (fiddler and dance caller) and Marguerite Wood (pianist and accordion player). In the second photograph, the piano player (seen from the back) is Phil Merrill. The last photo… View item
Moving Image

Roll the Barrel - Pistol Packin' Mama

Singing square called by Frank Kendall, Gassetts, Vermont. The Gassetts Grange hosts a monthly dance with a mix of round dances and traditional Eastern singing squares, with live music provided by… View item
Sound

Ladies Whirligig - two New England versions

Here is the same basic dance called by two New England callers who overlapped. The first is an excerpt from a recording by Ralph Page; the second is a live recording of Louise Winston from 1970.The… View item
Document

Square Dance Festival, NH, 1951

This magazine article focuses on the 4-H club of Strafford County, New Hampshire. The photographs were taken at a square dance festival that illustrates one aspect of the group's activities. The… View item
Moving Image

Cape Breton - Iona-Washabuck set

Cape Breton square dance: Three figures of the Iona-Washabuck set, recorded at Boisdale, Nova Scotia. The Iona set is the same as the Washabuck set (hence the conjoined name), and is closely related… View item
Moving Image

Cape Breton - Inverness Set

Cape Breton square dance: this is the Inverness set, recorded in Brook Village, Nova Scotia. The video contains three figures.Viewers wanting to see the figures in more detail can look at these three… View item
Still Image

Vermont square dance festival - large groups

These are photographs of school groups participating in the big square dance festivals held in Vermont in the 1950s in Northfield and Montpelier. View item
Moving Image

Hilton Kelly, Catskill fiddler and caller

Hilton Kelly, of Fleischmanns, New York, is a Catskills fiddler and square dance caller. He started playing in 1932, at age 5, and started calling in 1937. By the time he was 15, he had a regular band… View item
Still Image

Village Barn

Venue in New York City that hosted Piute Pete and played up its country image. See Card 14 on the postcard collection on this website. View item