George Van Kleeck - Catskills caller
Three photos of Catskills square dance caller George Van Kleeck. The third one was taken at the Catskills Folk Festival, c. 1941.
For more information about Camp Woodland, see this site. The paragraphs below are excerpts from "Camp Woodland: Progressive Education and Folklore in the Catskill Mountains of New York" published in Voices, Vol. 28, Spring-Summer, 2002. Voices is the membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society. http://www.nyfolklore.org
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..Besides the usual summer camp activities, such as sports, swimming, hiking, arts and crafts, and singing around the campfire, Norman Studer also instituted a hands-on folklore approach. Field trips to meet tradition bearers throughout the region was an important component of the camp experience, and in later years, after relationships had been formed, local residents would come to the camp and demonstrate traditional skills in logging, bark stripping, blacksmithing, hoop-shaving, shingle splitting, square dance calling, and others. They would recount to Studer and the children the stories of their lives, the tall tales and songs from the region.
... As music director, Herbert Haufrecht helped initiate serious folk song collecting at the camp in 1941, and this work was taken up a few yars later by his successor, Norman Cazden, who maintained a long friendship and collaboration with Haufrecht ... The result was a collection of 178 songs, which later became the monumental two-volume Folk Songs of the Catskills.
...Camp Woodland’s musical traditions included a weekly square dance called by Catskill resident George Van Kleeck, who was always accompanied by his wife Clara, and sometimes the youngsters themselves. Singing and performances of plays based on folk themes were regular events. Both Haufrecht and Cazden were known for composing musical works based on folk themes and local history, and these were performed by campers for local audiences.
Subjects: Person, Northeast - general
Tags: Camp Woodland, Catskills, George Van Kleeck
Item Relations
| This Item | is related to | Item: Catskill Mountains square dance - 1950s |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Hilton Kelly - Catskill fiddler & caller |
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Three photos of Catskills square dance caller George Van Kleeck. The third one was taken at the Catskills Folk Festival, c. 1941.
For more information about Camp Woodland, see this site. The paragraphs below are excerpts from "Camp Woodland: Progressive Education and Folklore in the Catskill Mountains of New York" published in Voices, Vol. 28, Spring-Summer, 2002. Voices is the membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society. http://www.nyfolklore.org
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..Besides the usual summer camp activities, such as sports, swimming, hiking, arts and crafts, and singing around the campfire, Norman Studer also instituted a hands-on folklore approach. Field trips to meet tradition bearers throughout the region was an important component of the camp experience, and in later years, after relationships had been formed, local residents would come to the camp and demonstrate traditional skills in logging, bark stripping, blacksmithing, hoop-shaving, shingle splitting, square dance calling, and others. They would recount to Studer and the children the stories of their lives, the tall tales and songs from the region.
... As music director, Herbert Haufrecht helped initiate serious folk song collecting at the camp in 1941, and this work was taken up a few yars later by his successor, Norman Cazden, who maintained a long friendship and collaboration with Haufrecht ... The result was a collection of 178 songs, which later became the monumental two-volume Folk Songs of the Catskills.
...Camp Woodland’s musical traditions included a weekly square dance called by Catskill resident George Van Kleeck, who was always accompanied by his wife Clara, and sometimes the youngsters themselves. Singing and performances of plays based on folk themes were regular events. Both Haufrecht and Cazden were known for composing musical works based on folk themes and local history, and these were performed by campers for local audiences.