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

Browse Items (1936 total)

Sound

Eight to the Center - Les Gotcher, 1954

This live recording comes from a Les Gotcher Square Dance Institute. You'll note that Gotcher starts the music while squares are still forming up; he calls out that another couples is needed in the… View item
Document

Square Dance Camps - 1951

As the wave of square dancing took off in the post World War II era, callers and organizers responded with a number of weekend and weeklong camps to cater to the growing interest. This editorial from… View item
Still Image

Stu Jamieson

The biographical information comed from The Old-Time Herald. The line drawing portrait is by Margot Mayo and appeared in Promenade magazine published by Mayo's American Square Dance Group (Vol 5; No… View item
Still Image

Astro-Nauts and Convair Hoedowners

This set of pictures is from two clubs in San Diego, CA whose members were involved with two plants run by General Dynamics Corporation. The timeline is late 1950’s through late 1960’s. This was… View item
Sound

Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Selmer Hovland

This singing square is based on a popular song of the day. Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes" was written in 1952 and appeared in several country versions and a #1 hit in a pop version by… View item
Sound

Spinning Wheel - Selmer Hovland, 1954

Excerpt from another live recording of Selmer Hovland at Kirkwood Lodge View item
Sound

Middle of the Mound - Selmer Hovland, patter

This is a live recording of Selmer Hovland, from Wagon Mound, New Mexico, calling at Kirkwood Lodge, Missouri. Hovland was a staff member at a Square Dance Institute that featured Les Gotcher. (One of… View item
Still Image

Kirkwood Lodge ad - 1954

This advertisement is for Kirkwood Lodge (Osage Beach, Missouri), the venue sponsoring the second annual Les Gotcher Square Dance Institute. The 1950s saw a dramatic increase in the number of square… View item
Moving Image

Cowboy Medley Square - Silver Spurs

Caller Red Henderson, who founded the Silver Spurs youth dance troupe, here calls a "cowboy square dance," mixing together figures based on traditional western square dances. The film dates… View item
Moving Image

Big set - Silver Spurs

Under the leadership of founder Red Henderson, Spokane's Silver Spurs youth dance troupe here demonstrates a series of figures from the southern Appalachian mountains. Often referred to by the… View item
Moving Image

Lancers Quadrille - Silver Spurs

Performed in the 1950s by the Silver Spurs youth dance troupe of Spokane, WA The SDHP site has numerous other items about the Lancers Quadrille. View item
Moving Image

The Dancing "Silver Spurs" - 1951

This is an excerpt from a half-hour film, made in 1951 by Standard Oil, about the Silver Spurs, a performing dance group from Spokane, WA. The group was founded in 1947 by E. S. "Red"… View item