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

Browse Items (1930 total)

Document

Promenade - Seven Cowboy Dances

This little booklet plays on the popularity of square dancing as introduced by Lloyd and his Cheyenne Mountain Dancers. The booklet was released by Women's Home Companion, a popular monthly magazine… View item
Moving Image

Moore Hall Old Time Dance

A lengthy (2 hours) video documenting an old-time dance in Ontario—lots of couple dances interspersed with squares. Don Rankin - Caller Scotty Patterson - Fiddle Bob Tiffin - Guitar Flo… View item
Document

Pop Sweet

This item recounts a chance encounter between Margot Mayo, the leader of the American Square Dance Group, and Pop Sweet, a traditional fiddler/caller from western Massachusetts. Her excitement at… View item
Still Image

A Callers' Association? - 1952 discussion

https://archive.org/details/northernjunket38page/page/16/mode/1upCALLERLAB, the association of modern western square dance callers, was established in 1974. However, discussions about creating caller… View item
Document

Social Dance in the Mormon West

Detailed look at the role that social dance played (and still plays) in Mormon society. The publication includes a lengthy essay by Larry Shumway looking at dance throughout Mormon history, including… View item
Sound

Frazee's Nightmare - Les Gotcher, 1954

Commercial recordings bring us excellent sound quality and precise calling. In contrast, one of the delights of live recordings is hearing the caller deal with real-life challenges on the dance floor.… View item
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