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

Browse Items (1930 total)

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Asilomar 1953 - Sets in Order Summer Institute

Note: Several of these files are large and will take longer to load.The first three files are part of the binder presented to participants at the 6th annual Sets in Order Institute held at the… View item
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Foot 'n Fiddle – Marlys Waller recollections

Marlys Waller was one of the people involved in the Texas square dance activities of the late 1940s. With several colleagues, in 1946 she helped found Foot 'n Fiddle, one of the earliest of the square… View item
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Al Brundage recollections

Al Brundage wrote these recollections of his experiences growing up in Connecticut and the growth of square dancing. His story includes discovering square dance as a boy, followed by the whole… View item
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Square Dance—A Social Recreation Aid (1937 article)

Article explaining the basics of square dance, the importance of the caller, the structure of a set, appropriate music, two methods for how to swing, and sample dances. Dance directions are given for… View item
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The Barn Dance Returns! (1937 article)

Article in Recreation magazine giving detailed directions for holding a barn dance: "There is joy and laughter, rollicking rhythm, sociability and informality in barn and country dancing which… View item
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The Country Dance Goes To Town (1940 article)

Article from 1940 extolling the virtues of country dances—square dances, circle dances, and contra—and describing their recent rise in popularity. The author declares that country dances "provide… View item
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Swing Your Partners! (1940 article)

Article published in 1940, profiling Lloyd Shaw and his Cheyenne Mountain Dancers. "One of the most colorful and enthusiastic of the square dance revivalists is Dr. Lloyd Shaw, principal of… View item
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Square Dance Goes To College, The (1941 article)

"Your grandmother enjoyed it and so did her grandmother, enjoyed it and so did her grandmother, so there is nothing new about square dancing. Yet this ancient dance form is capturing the fancy of… View item
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Reviving Old Time Dances (article, Detroit, 1926)

Short journal article describing program sponsored by the Recreation Department of Detroit, with "Mr. Ford's dancing instructor [Benjamin Lovett]. "The dances are being enthusiasticaly… View item
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Square Dancing Is Fun, But--Teach An Easy One First! (1940 article)

Article from 1940 promoting the virtues of square dancing and pointing out the necessity of teaching simple dances first. The author suggests: "The art of imitation must be used in teaching… View item
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Square and Couple Dances with Directions and Calls - Lloyd Shaw

This is a supplement to Cowboy Dances and Good Morning that was used in a 1947 summer session at the University of Colorado. "Most of these dances have been taken from the mimeographed material… View item
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Juvenile Delinquency and Square Dancing

In this article, published inNorthern Junket in 1959, caller Ed Durlacher describes his experiences leading square dances in Riverside Park, New York City. It was not a promising beginning:"As they… View item