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

Browse Items (164 total)

  • Temporal Coverage is exactly "1960s"
Website

Buddy Weaver Podcast - Vintage MSD- Joel Pepper with Jack Barbour at Sunny Hills Barn

A live recording done at Sunny Hills Barn in Fullerton, California. From 1948 to 1962, it was the largest square dance hall in America boasting a dance floor that would hold 150 squares. Ed Smith,… View item
Moving Image

Mr. Pastry Dances the Lancers

Richard Hearne (aka "Mr. Pastry") was an English vaudeville performer and a regular performer in children's shows on the BBC starting in the 1950s.Here he mimes being part of a set dancing the… View item
Still Image

Bill Castner - Fiesta de la Cuadrilla

Flyer from the Fiesta de la Cuadrilla featuring California caller Bill Castner View item
Sound

Patter Call at Hoedown Hall - Bill Castner

This is a short clip of Bill Castner, a caller from California, calling at the Fiesta de la Cuadrilla at Hoedown Hall, September 29 & 30, 1961 View item
Sound

Basin Street Blues - Bill Castner

This is a short clip of Bill Castner, a caller from California, calling at the Fiesta de la Cuadrilla at Hoedown Hall, Mantua, New Jersey, September 29 & 30, 1961.Castner was inducted in the… View item
Still Image

Silver Spurs publicity poster

The poster is from a 1962 performance of the Silver Spurs (Spokane, WA) in Victoria, British Columbia. It illustrates the many varieties of dance presented by the youth group, dances that are still… View item
Document

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
Document

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
Still Image

Don Durlacher - Jones Beach photo

Photograph of dancing at Jones Beach during the Don Durlacher era. A related interview with Glenn Durlacher (son of Don, grandson of Ed) looks at the Durlachers' involvement with the Jones Beach… View item
Website

Primo Fiore

Primo Fiore was born in Brooklyn on September 6, 1930 but raised his family in Deer Park, New York, while working as a physical education instructor in West Islip. His gifted speaking voice, combined… View item
Sound

Square Dance With Soul

Two audio excerpts from the album Square Dancing With Soul by Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick, originally released on the Folkways label in 1969. The comments are from the booklet released with the… View item
Sound

Mal Hayden - Seacoast Demonstration, 1960

This is Mal Hayden, a New Hampshire caller who straddled the space between traditional and early modern square dance calling. Information about him can be found at the Related Item.Drawing on various… View item