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

Browse Items (189 total)

  • Collection: Southern Appalachian
Website

Eastern Kentucky Folk Dancing Oral History Project

This is a collection of recorded interviews that document the development of traditional square and related dance activity in southeastern Kentucky. The interviews were with mostly elderly residents… View item
Website

Pat Napier interview

This is a short interview (2013) with Patrick Napier, author of Kentucky Mountain Square Dancing. In it, he talks about his experiences as a member of the Berea Country Dancers, working with Frank… View item
Website

Kentucky Mountain Square Dancing

Written in 1949 and republished many times, this is a vital reference for anyone interested in southern Appalachian dance. Patrick Napier was a well-known dance leader at the Christmas Country Dance… View item
Document

Set Runnin' in Eastern Kentucky

Description from 1949 by Patrick Napier of traditional square dances in eastern Kentucky. View item
Document

Old Side Door: A Kentucky Mountain Dance

Article by Patrick E. Napier, originally published in 1949, describing a Kentucky dance figure and its setting. View item
Moving Image

Bill Martin - Oregon Public Broadcast TV

Note: Oregon Art Beat no longer streams this recording, but the video will play on our site.Broadcast in 2003, this public television documentary profiles caller Bill Martin and the old-time southern… View item
Document

Gary Ellison interview

This is an interview conducted by Nathaniel Lucy as part of his research for his master's thesis, "Ozark Jubilee: The Impact of a Revional Identity at a Crossroads," written in 2014. The subject of… View item
Website

Missouri Traditional Dance

This attractive and informative website explores Missouri music and dance traditions. It opens with an introduction to the subject, includes information on throwing a square dance, and is divided into… View item
Moving Image

Texas Star - Mike Rogers, Wien, Missouri, 1994

The caller is 92-year-old Mike Rogers, patter calling at a jam session and square dance held at Wien (Chariton County in north central Missouri) in 1994. There's close-up footage of Rogers starting at… View item
Website

Set Running - Cecil Sharp in America

The name "running set" comes to us from the work of the great English song collector Cecil Sharp, founder of the English Folk Dance Society and, in 1915, what became Country Dance and Song Society.… View item
Sound

Kentucky Set Running - 1917 firsthand account

After graduation from Vassar and a summer holiday with family, Marguerite Butler, at age 22, headed for Pine Mountain Settlement School in a remote area of eastern Kentucky to try to make some… View item
Sound

Glenville, WV Square Dances called by Mack Samples

The dances (with instruction) are: Butterfly Whirl First Boy to the Right Grapevine Twist Take a Little Peek Texas Star_Take a Little PeekBob Dalsemer writes: "These recordings were made on May… View item