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

Browse Items (214 total)

  • Subject is exactly "Transitional/Western 1950s"
Document

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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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
Document

Square Dance Workbooks 1, 2, and 3 - Don Armstrong

These are three books of square dance calls published by Don Armstrong, starting in 1956. As such, they give a good sense of the repertoire at that time. View item
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Central City - more photographs

Janie Chandler writes: "My mother, Carol Case, formerly Carol Chandler, originally Carol Angevine, was a Colorado square dancer from way back.The video I watched (from 1955) was a year before my… View item
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Central City - photographs

This collection of photos documents the young dancers who performed in the summers in Central City, Colorado. As opera-goers left the theatre, the dancers would swoop down the main street and bring… View item
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Cal Golden calling at the 1958 World's Fair

Caller Cal Golden performing at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels, Belgium. He was featured 18 times during that event. The other two photos are publicity photos of Cal Golden, taken lated… View item
Website

Balance & Swing (TX)

This magazine was edited and published in Dallas by Swede Soderberg and Jim White. (Dallas hosted the National Square Dance Convention in 1954; see the exhibit on this site for detailed information… View item
Document

Roughness and Speed - Lloyd Shaw

Fast tempos were apparently much on the mind of the editor of Balance & Swing magazine. After putting a front-page essay on the subject in one issue, the very next issue carried this piece by… View item
Document

Fast tempos - Texas, 1954

This article (and the following item in the SDHP site) discusses a common problem facing square dancers in the mid-1950s—tempos that are too fast for good dancing. As the author explains, "If any… View item
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Square Dance Camps - 1957

This is a listing of square dance camps in 1957. Interested viewers can compare it with the Sets in Ordereditorial from 1951. View item
Website

Larry Edelman Collection - 78 rpm recordings

This large collection (1,358 items) of 78 rpm records is comprised mostly of square dance calling and music, and couples dancing music. It is an extensive assortment of recordings, all of which have… View item
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Bob Osgood - television program #2

A later broadcast of Osgood's television show, this time featuring his first guest caller (2:25), Ray Shaw, the brother of Lloyd Shaw. Ray Shaw was one of the few square dance callers in the Los… View item