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

Browse Items (1933 total)

Moving Image

Berea Country Dancers - Set Running (1917)

In this re-creation of dances from 1917, the Berea College Country Dancers, under the direction of Ethel Capps, show several figures described by Cecil Sharp in his Country Dance Book V. Sharp first… View item
Moving Image

Bill Bailey - Debbie Gray

This is the first in a series of videos posted from a 1989 program of singing squares presented by caller Debbie Gray and the Deb-U-Tones (vocals by Alice La Pierre and Julia Huestis). Musicians are… View item
Document

Rural Square Dances in East Tennessee: A Personal Account of Visits to Four Communities

This article appeared (1981) in the scholarly journal published by Country Dance and Song Society. The author describes four East Tennessee square dance communities, including discussion of typical… View item
Website

Midwestern Fiddle Masters:
Michigan's Les Raber and Indiana's Francis Geels

Biographies of two fiddlers, each of whom played extensively for square dances in Michigan and Indiana. View item
Website

Michigan Fiddle Style

Folklorist Eliot Singer presented a paper—"How to Start Figuring Out What "Michigan Fiddle Style" Is"—at a Michigan Historical Society meeting in 1988. In it, he references… View item
Document

Otto Wood - singing squares

Caller Otto Wood's calls and notes for singing squares. You can hear Belle of the Ball called by Ira Huntley here; it's the second dance in the set of three on this link.This collection was created by… View item
Website

Square and Contra Dance Posters

A collection of 43 flyers and posters collected by Steve Green that advertise contra and square dance events in northwestern Massachusetts, southwest New Hampshire, and southeast Vermont dating from… View item
Website

Three singing squares - Vermont, 1956

Three singing squares from an October 6, 1956 recording of the Dick Perry Orchestra and caller Ira Huntley playing a square dance in Newfane, Vermont. Original tape donated to the Vermont Folklife… View item
Still Image

Paul Phillips - photographs

The first photo is a portrait. The second photo shows Paul Phillips at the microphone. In the third photo, it looks as though he is one of the dancers; note the similarity of the shiny dark shirt. The… View item
Still Image

Paul Phillips - record album

This is the record album and label for "If You Knew Susie" by Paul Phillips. View item
Sound

If You Knew Susie (clip) - Paul Phillips

Paul Phillips was a popular Oklahoma square dance caller. This clip presents the introduction and the first time through the figure. Phillips calls the figure twice for head gents, twice for side… View item
Still Image

Gene Gowing - album & label

Album jacket and record label for Gene Gowing recording View item