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

Browse Items (12 total)

  • Spatial Coverage is exactly "USA, Texas, Austin"
Document

1953 Texas Inaugural Ball square dance program

The custom of having a square dance as part of the Inaugural Ball for the Texas Governor started in 1947; this is the program for the 1953 Inaugural, scheduled for 6:30 PM until midnight. The second… View item
Document

Square Dance Week - Austin, 1949

The photo shows Marlys Swenson giving a square dance lesson to Austin's "Mayor Tom," who has proclaimed the week of March 20-26, 1949, as "Square-Dance Week." The Additional File is the accompanying… View item
Sound

Texas Square Dance Music - Henry Hudson

This is the 1946 album, 78 rpm, issued by Texas musician Henry Hudson and his Fiddle Band. Hudson recorded on the Henlee label, sometimes with his band being called the Pioneer Fiddle Band. He worked… View item
Still Image

Henry Hudson - Texas fiddler

This photo shows Texas fiddler Henry Hudson standing with dance leader and organizer Lillie Lee Baker. (The boy at left is holding the 78 rpm album of Texas Square Dance Music that was recorded in… View item
Document

Lillie Lee Baker

Lillie Lee Baker (Mrs. Paul Baker) was a Texas dance caller, supporter of children's performing square dance groups, and an organizer for Texas square dances. In 1947, she directed square dance… View item
Still Image

Texas Starlings - teenage dancers, 1947

This photo shows the Texas Starlings, a teenage group of square dancers, in Austin, Texas, 1947. The accompany article fromFoot 'n' Fiddlemagazine describes a session by Herb Greggerson for teens in… View item
Document

"Partners To Your Places

This 1949 chapter by Olcutt Sanders is a significantly expanded version of his short piece fromFoot 'n' Fiddle in 1947. Here it's complete with scholarly footnotes, making it more useful to… View item
Still Image

Square dance photos, Austin, TX, 1948

Two photographs taken at a square dance in Austin, TX View item
Document

Round Dances

Olcutt Sanders was a Texas dance historian. He writes, "The round dances that are included quite generally on square dance programs these days originated in Europe in the late Eighteenth and… View item
Document

"The Good Ole Days" - Olcutt Sanders, 1949

Dance historian Olcutt Sanders asks, "As you unwound yourself from the mazes of the latest square dance concoction introduced at your club meeting, did your ever wonder how people ever got along… View item
Document

Teacup Chain - 1948 publication

This may be the first publication of the Teacup Chain figure. It appeared in Foot 'n' Fiddle magazine, an early square dance magazine founded and edited by Anne Pittman, Marlys Swenson and Olcutt… View item
Document

Square Dance Contests - Texas debate, 1948

In the 1920s and 1930s, continuing a little into the 1940s, Texas had numerous square dance competitions. These two essays from Foot 'n' Fiddle magazine debate the merits of such events.In the first… View item