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

Browse Items (1924 total)

Moving Image

Square Dance in Ava, Missouri

Edna Davis is caller. The dance is Two Little Hobos, a common southern Missouri figure. View item
Still Image

Square Dance in advertisements

These magazine ads, mostly from the late 1940s and early 1950s, illustrate the widespread presence of square dance in American popular culture. Beech-Nut chewing gum Life April 21, 1952beer (beverage… View item
Moving Image

Square Dance History Pageant, part 2 - Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, 1976

The 25th annual National Square Dance Convention took place in 1976, the year of the United State Bicentennial Celebration. A historical pageant at the convention features a series of dances… View item
Moving Image

Square Dance History Pageant, part 1 - 1976

The 25th annual National Square Dance Convention took place in 1976, the year of the United State Bicentennial Celebration. A historical pageant at the convention features a series of dances… View item
Moving Image

Square Dance History Pageant, 1976, part 3-Dorothy Shaw

Recorded at the 25th National Square Dance Convention, Anaheim, CA. This is the third part of the square dance history pageant, which was dedicated to Mrs. Shaw, the widow of Lloyd "Pappy"… View item
Website

Square Dance History display panels

The panels in this set trace the history of square dancing over some 500 years, going back to early origins in England and France. They were assembled by Dick Severance, an early president of the… View item
Website

Square Dance Hall of Fame

This website, created by the Square Dance History Project, honors the 34 nominees to the Sets in Order American Square Dance Society Hall of Fame. Dorothy Shaw was the first person named, in January… View item
Document

Square Dance Goes To College, The (1941 article)

"Your grandmother enjoyed it and so did her grandmother, enjoyed it and so did her grandmother, so there is nothing new about square dancing. Yet this ancient dance form is capturing the fancy of… View item
Sound

Square Dance Fight on Ball Top Mountain

Phil Jamison: These are square dance skits on two sides of a 78 (Vocalion 5419) with a few random calls by John Dilleshaw (aka Seven Foot Dilly) of Paulding County, GA. It was recorded in Atlanta in… 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
Document

Square Dance festival programs

This collection of more than two dozen festival programs from the 1940s until early 1960s gives a good sense of what material was being called as well as names of featured callers. In chronological… View item
Still Image

Square Dance equipment

This collection of photographs illustrates some of the electronic equipment used by square dance callers-- speakers, speaker stands, record players, tape decks, microphones with different… View item