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

Browse Items (1939 total)

Document

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
Document

Fall Lake George - outing clubs

This 2007 newspaper article describes an annual gathering of outing clubs at Lake George, New York. For many decades, young people interested in outdoor activities-- hiking, canoeing, rock climbing,… View item
Document

Ray Shaw biography

This article profiles caller Ray Shaw, brother of Lloyd Shaw. Ray started calling square dances in Los Angeles in 1939, and was featured as the guest on the first television show that Bob Osgood… View item
Document

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
Moving Image

A Better Missouri - square dance, 1937

This dance sequence is an excerpt from "A Better Missouri," a documentary film from 1937. The film was produced for the Work Projects Administration, and focuses on public works projects created by… View item
Document

Pioneer Dance Calls - Nebraska 1

This is the first in a series of three booklets of square dance calls collected in Nebraska in the late 1930s. (The larger series looks at Nebraska Folklore.) Each volume presents background… View item
Sound

Catch All Eight (clip) - Fenton "Jonesy" Jones

Music by the Cliffie Stone Band View item
Sound

Red River Valley (clip) - Fenton "Jonesy" Jones

music by Stan James and the Valley Boys View item
Sound

Ends Turn In - Fenton "Jonesy" Jones

This is a rare live recording of Fenton “Jonesy” Jones from California. In the 1954 tape he says that he prefers to use his guitar for music rather than records even for some of the patter… View item
Sound

Your Home Town - Fenton "Jonesy" Jones

A rare live recording of Jonesy calling, this time a singing square. View item
Document

The Caller - Jonesy

A list of qualifications and items to consider for would-be square dance callers View item
Sound

Two singing squares - Fenton "Jonesy" Jones

1) Solomon LeviFrom his series of Square Dances by Jonesy, this singing square features a simple figure that appears in other traditional dances.2) Darling Nellie GrayFrom the same album. As one… View item