Square Dance Hall Of Fame

This website, created by the Square Dance History Project, honors the 34 nominees to the Sets in Order American Square Dance Society Hall of Fame. Dorothy Shaw was the first person named, in January 1961, and successive nominations took place through 1983. The site includes the Gene Anthony portrait of each inductee, along with biographical information, audio files, links to interviews and awards, and additional photographs.

The website design was created by Barb Ackemann, who is also the webmaster for the Square Dance History Project. You can view the Hall of Fame members alphabetically or in the order of the date when they were selected.

In addition to professional photographs (taken by Peter Esherick) of the Gene Anthony portraits that Bob Osgood commissioned and used for his magazine covers, the page for each recipient contains Osgood's information about the 34 members of the Hall of Fame, plus additional biographical information, links to Milestone awards and to interviews conducted by the late Bob Brundage, audio files, additional photographs, and additional material from the SDHP collection.The Background tab contains a lengthy and detailed article by Tony Parkes that places the Hall of Fame in the context of Bob Osgood's many accomplishments.

Most of the Hall of Fame members were square dance callers, and we have included a short audio clip of that person calling a dance. For Dorothy Shaw, who was the first person named to the Hall of Fame, we have included a half-hour audio recording of her speaking at a gathering of the Lloyd Shaw Fellowship in 1971.