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

Browse Items (160 total)

  • Collection: Traditional western
Document

Pam McKeever - biography

Biographical information about caller Pam McKeever, Albuquerque View item
Document

Bob Sumrall - Olcutt Sanders correspondence, 1939

These letters between Bob Sumrall and J. Olcutt Sanders provide a glimpse into Texas square dances in the late 1930s. Sanders was a serious student of square dance history, part of a group of… View item
Document

1940 Texas Square Dance Contest

Newspaper accounts of a square dance competition won by Bob Sumrall's Abilene set. The story goes into detail about each of the six competing teams,naming each of the dancers, the judges, and… View item
Document

Square Dances of the Southwest

This 1951 booklet, by caller Butch Nelson, is a useful collection of calls from that region. You can hear Nelson calling Oklahoma Cyclone here.The Related Items provide audio or video clips, called by… View item
Sound

Half Sashay - Butch Nelson (clip)

"Pull up your pants and tighten the tracesAll join hands, we're off to the races."With opening patter like this, we know we're in traditional western square dance territory. Thirty seconds later, when… View item
Sound

Chain Lightning - Butch Nelson (clip)

Another example of Butch Nelson's calling, with fast-paced patter keeping dancers moving briskly. Again, the patter clearly shows the caller's western roots. The music is played by the… View item
Moving Image

Herb Egender - part 1

Herb Egender was a member of Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw's legendary square dance demonstration team, the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers. This footage of his recollections of that experience was… View item
Moving Image

Herb Egender - part 2

Herb Egender was a member of Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw's legendary square dance demonstration team, the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers. This footage of his recollections of that experience was… View item
Document

A Look at Square Dancing in Colorado

"Square dancing evolved a western version probably sometime in the late 1800s when the pioneers moved to settle the states west of the Mississippi. It was a square dance form that was much… View item

Colorado Square Dance History

This is Part-1 of seven parts of a ninety-minute performance that was presented at the annual convention of the International Association of Square Dance Callers in 2007. That convention was held in… View item
Document

Colorado dancing - Cal Campbell

Dance caller Cal Campbell started dancing at age 6 in 1943; he has written a series of reminiscences of his experiences growing up in a small Colorado town and the vital role that dancing played in… View item
Sound

Lady Round the Lady - Carl "Doc" Journell

This tip by Texas square dance caller Carl "Doc" Journell illustrates a series of variations on the Lady Round the Lady figure from southern Appalachian square dance. He has the ladies and gents… View item