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

Browse Items (254 total)

  • Tags: MWSD
Document

Square Dance Party handbooks

These handbooks, published by Bob Osgood and Sets in Order, describe how to plan a square dance party. They offer a look at modern square dance culture in the years from the early 1950s through the… View item
Document

Basic Movements of Square Dancing

This early handbook from Sets in Order provides detailed instructions for 20 basic figures, "the foundation movements for most square dancing." As such, it offers an overview of what was considered… View item
Document

ABC's of Square Dancing

This informal guide to square dancing is aimed at beginners, an easy-to-ready pamphlet that a caller could distribute to dancers in a class. It strikes a friendly tone: --- So you wanta'… View item
Document

5 Steps to Better Dancing

The "5 Steps" of the title can be taken literally; this tiny handout, illustrated with stick figures, is all about how to move on the dance floor: 1. Keep both feet on the floor,… View item
Document

Square Dance in Japan - organization

This piece by Masaru Wada, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Japan Square Dancers Association, presents an overview of modern square dance in that country. View item
Document

Barn Owls square dance club

Items connected with one mid-1950s square dance club: • Program for 3rd anniversary dance, 1954, including club roster • Invitation to 5th anniversary party • invitation for regular dance •… View item
Document

Square Dance camp brochures

Lloyd Shaw's summer school in Colorado Springs started in 1941, then resumed in the years after World War II. This item includes a small collection of brochures illustrating various dance camps… View item
Document

UCLA Leadership Conference - 1964

Photograph of participants in 1964 square dance leadership conference organized by Bob Osgood at UCLA, along with a roster of participants. Jim Mayo describes this event in his 2003 book, Step By Step… View item
Still Image

Chuck Jones covers - Sets in Order

Four covers for Bob Osgood's Sets in Order magazine, drawn by famed cartoonist and animator Chuck Jones, who was a square dance enthusiast in southern California. There are many more. See an article… View item