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

Browse Items (1929 total)

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Les Gotcher's Text Book for Square Dance Callers

One of the leading callers in promoting the use of sight calling, Les Gotcher went his own way as modern square dance developed. Frequently described as "The Hash Master," Gotcher was not part of the… View item
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Round Robin correspondence

Long before the internet, a group of a dozen or so square dance callers around the country exchanged ideas through a series of Round Robin letters. (Note: the Square Dance History Project would dearly… View item
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Cape Breton Dance Halls

This undergraduate thesis looks at the dance halls of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Traditional music and dance plays an important role in the life of the communities there, and the dance halls function… View item
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Ballroom & the Barn: Dr. Lloyd Shaw, Dean Edwards & the Western Square Dance Revival in Colorado Springs

This article presents a look at square dancing in Colorado Springs from the perspective of Dean Edwards; it appears that the author adopted his views about Lloyd Shaw and to some extent misrepresented… View item
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Les Gotcher - photo and autograph

Unlike the other photos of Gotcher (see Related Items), this one captures the high energy of his calling. View item
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Pop Sweet

George R. "Pop" Sweet was a traditional fiddler and dance caller from Austerlitz, NY, and the neighboring towns of the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. In the early 1930s, he was engaged in a… View item
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Deuce Williams - business card

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Santa Monica 1950 - official program

This is the official program for the 1950 Diamond Jubilee square dance in Santa Monica. Our website has many other items related to this important event in square dance history. View item
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Dick Leger - promo photo

This newspaper photographer's shot portrays The Man With the Guitar. Viewers will find many other Dick Leger items on our site. View item
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Huntington's Pavilion, E. Thetford, VT

We often think of the boom years of square dancing taking place starting in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but there is a long history of halls for square dancing before then. This is a series of… View item
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Square Dance promo video

This video promoting modern square dance was produced by CALLERLAB in 2022. It's interesting to note that thepromo focuses more on the social aspects of square dancing than on choreographic… View item
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Princess Elizabeth square dancing - details

When Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip squared danced during a visit to Ottawa in 1951, photographs from the event created a sensation and led to a rapid upsurge of interest in square dancing in… View item