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

Browse Items (111 total)

  • Subject is exactly "Transitional/Western 1940s"
Document

'Sophisticated' City Folks Are Getting Rural Rhythm

Newspaper story (1946) datelined New York that describes the post-WWII enthusiasm about square dancing: ---lt's hep these days to be a square—a square dancer, that is. Folks from 7 to 70 are… View item
Document

"So They Gave Up Football"

These two articles were written by Erna Egender, a member of the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers for that group's first trip east, in 1939. The title relates to a ful-page layout created by the Associated… View item
Sound

Docey-Doe Hoedown - Lloyd Shaw

A YouTube site that plays Lloyd Shaw calling from his Cowboy Dances album View item
Document

Arizona Style of Modern Square Dancing

This booklet, created by a consortium of 20 local square dance club, was sponsored by the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department, testament to the rising popularity of square dance at that time.… View item
Document

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
Document

Square Dances of the Southwest

This 1951 booklet, by caller Butch Nelson, is a useful collection of calls from that region. You can hear Nelson calling Oklahoma Cyclone here.The Related Items provide audio or video clips, called by… View item
Document

Texas Dance Memories

This booklet was compiled by Betty Casey; it presents an overview of Texas square dance history. The booklet features short profiles of 14 "first pacesetters," figures who are important in the history… View item
Document

West Texas Square Dances - Index

This is the cover and index of the booklet published by Jimmy Clossin and Carl Hertzog, showing dances that were common to that region around 1950. The book offers a dictionary, "Around-the-Ring… View item
Website

Advanced Square Dance Figures of the West and Southwest

Electronic copy of 1950 book by Lee Owens, with music arranged by Viola Ruth. Excellent resource made available through the Internet Archive. The book can be read online, downloaded as a PDF file, or… View item
Document

Al Brundage and Allemande Thar

After Al Brundage went to Lloyd Shaw's summer school in 1949, he played an important role in introducing modern squares to his dancers in Connecticut. He went on to become an important caller in the… View item
Sound

Alamo Style

This 1949 description of "Alamo style" balances comes from Rickey Holden, who coined the term to describe the figure. Holden points out that the action itself had been around for a while.… View item
Document

American Square Dances of the West and Southwest

Electronic copy of 1949 book by Lee Owens, with music arranged by Viola Ruth. Excellent resource made available through the Internet Archive. The book can be read online, downloaded as a PDF file, or… View item