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

Browse Items (1935 total)

Sound

Captain Jinks / Divide the Ring - Leonard Hurst

Two clips from Colorado caller Leonard Hurst, who came to Australia in 1951 to do a series of radio broadcasts. He played an important role in spreading square dance to that area. More information… View item
Document

Shall We Dance? - Maine, 19th century

This article, written by theMaine Memory Network Curator and Historian for the Maine Historical Society, takes two mid-19th books as a focal point for looking at etiquette and social status as… View item
Moving Image

Let's Square Dance - instructional films, 1950s

In the mid-1950s, Janet R. MacLean, a professor in the Indiana University Department of Recreation, produced a series of six instructional films to introduce square dancing. The films, each… View item
Document

Lloyd Shaw Foundation Summer Workshop, 1971

Brochure describing a 1971 summer workshop presented by the Lloyd Shaw Foundation in Colorado. View item
Document

Come Square Dancing (Australia, 1953)

Note: The file is a large one. Depending on the speed of your internet connection it may take a while to load. For ease of viewing offline, you could also click on the download icon (next to the print… View item
Sound

Darling Nellie Gray - Ralph Page (clip)

This dance was Ralph Page's signature closing dance for an evening program. Compare it with Happy Hale, whom some think was Page's source for the dance. There are many examples of this classic singing… View item
Document

Jim Wilkerson's dance cards

This is a collection of cards by caller Jim Wilkerson; we think he was from Ohio, but would appreciate additional information that can be provided. View item
Sound

Darling Nellie Gray - Happy Hale

Happy Hale was a caller from Bernardston, MA, and some have speculated that Ralph Page patterned his style as a singing caller on Hale's technique. Other Happy Hale recordings at the Library of… View item
Moving Image

Bible Grove Square Dancers, Bethel, Missouri, 1989

Dancers from Bible Grove in Scotland County, MO at the Bethel Fiddle Convention, Bethel, MO. June 1989. Fiddling by Chirps Smith and Charlie Walden. Others in the band are Forrest Rose on bass, Dennis… View item
Sound

West Coast Blues - Blind Blake

There were hundreds of 78 rpm records with dance calls released in the 1920s and 1930s; this clip from Blind Blake's "West Coast Blues" is one example. Other African Americans callers who appear on… 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
Sound

"Wild Bill" Reagan

Duane "Wild Bill" Reagan was a square dance caller perhaps best known for his performance at the Expo 74 festival in Spokane, Washington. Featured here are two clips of his calling at that event, a… View item