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

Browse Items (1930 total)

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Sashay newsletter, Vermont, 1953

Sashay was a country dance bulletin published by musician Emerson Lang, of Danville, Vermont. It's clear from the contents that Lang's readers were open to many styles-- mention is made of squares,… View item
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Lloyd Shaw's summer class - photos

This collection of photos comes from the family of George and Betty Greene, dancers and organizers from the St. Louis area, and were contibuted to SDHP by Ellen Hocker, their daughter. 1. Lloyd… View item
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St. Louis square dancers, early 1950s

These photos are from the early St. Louis square dance scene, organized in part by George Greene and his wife, Betty. George Greene played an active role bringing to the St. Louis area some of the… View item
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George Greene - Lloyd Shaw letters

This is correspondence between St. Louis dance organizer George Greene and Lloyd Shaw, setting up a 1952 visit by Shaw to the area. Note that Shaw indicates (p. 3) that he will come for expenses and… View item
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Clayton Eighters - guidelines

Toward the start of the square dance boom in the St. Louis area, there were three clubs that sponsored Lloyd Shaw's visit: The Lancers, Boots and Belles, and The Promenaders. However, at the same… View item
Document

George & Betty Greene - dance history

This two-page summary was prepared by Betty Greene, wife of St. Louis dance organizer George Greene. In it she outlines the couple's ten-year dance history, and mentions some of the many… View item
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Lloyd Shaw Christmas Letter

Lloyd and Dorothy Shaw sent out a post-Christmas letter to members of their "Square Dance Fellowship," participants in the summer institutes and others whom they met. The poetic language… View item
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Vermont square dancers, 1950s - children

This collection of photographs from the 1950s shows children dancing, mostly at the large square dance festivals held in Northfield or Montpelier, Vermont. View item
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Jack Arehart's calling booklet

Esther and Jack Arehart were the proprietors of Arehart's 1000 Acres, a "Ranch Resort" (aka Dude Ranch) in the Adirondacks region of northern New York state. The resort ("famous… View item
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Revival of American Square and Country Dancing - 1949

This article documents the change on American dance floors in Michigan state in the late 1940s, where, in the author's words, "croonersare replaced bycallers." She cites the work of Grace Ryan in… View item
Website

Caller Hesse Reese - live recording, 1985

Caller, musician, and collector Larry Edelman describes this as "a 2.5 hour audio file that I recorded of Hesse Reese, an auctioneer and square dance caller at an evening square dance on October 11,… View item
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Three Styles of Squares - 1951

This 1951 article describes a large and successful square dance festival in Chicago. View item