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Lawton Harris is one of the real pioneers of the folk dance movement. He started out teaching play-party games in 1934, gradually adding more and more folk dances. He used these as part of a social recreation program at his church. His wife Sally at first used to play piano for all their classes and Lawton, who claimed that in the early days he had no feeling for rythm and had three left feet, did the teaching.
Then in 1937, after some experimentation, Sally began to teach and they began to use phonograph records. At that time, Lawton started the Square Steppers folk dance club of Oakland and he assisted with the organization of the Berkeley Folk Dancers. Also in 1937, Lawton made his first contact with the College of the Pacific in Stockton, California. On his days off from his job in Oakland, he taught a folk dance class there. In 1942 the couple moved to Stockton and soon after their arrival organized the Stockton Polk Y Dots.
In 1946, Lawton helped in the forming of the Folk Dance Federation of California, Inc., organized the Pacific Area Recreation Lab, and brought to California the first outstanding folk dance teacher from the East Coast, Mary Ann Herman. Out of this recreation lab grew the folk dance camp idea and, in 1948, the Folk Dance Camp on the College of the Pacific campus was organized with Lawton Harris as director and guiding spirit. Lawton brought to
California the outstanding folk dance personalities from around the world and through them and their many interesting dances helped keep the folk dance movement alive.
Lawton worked intensively with the Danish groups in the state and taught a number of Danish dances. About him was written, "Lawton Harris is one of the finest personalities in our movement, . . . you could not meet a more congenial, more considered, and a fairer person to work with, and [without him] the Folk Dance Movement in California would not be what it is today."
Lawton's library of folk dance material, begun in 1947, is one of the largest ever compiled, and goes back nearly 200 years. This material and his knowledge in the field was very useful to him when he served two years as editor of "Let's Dance: The Magazine of Folk and Square Dancing" in Northern California. After his death in 1967, his collection of folk dance records and dance descriptions were donated to the Stockton Folk Dance Camp committee. Eventually, they found their way to the University of Pacific Libraries. The collection contains:
Over 10,000 ten- and twelve-inch records (78rpm).
700 long-playing records (33rpm).
4,200 seven-inch records (33 and 45rpm).
Videotapes of almost all dances taught since 1975, demonstrated by master teachers.
Handbooks (syllabi) for Stockton Folk Dance Camps, containing about 1,600 dance descriptions.
Numerous other folk dance camp syllabi, and about 14,000 miscellaneous dance descriptions.
A sizeable library of hard and soft cover books on folk dance matters.
A large collection of folk dance periodicals.
Complete files of "Northern Junket" and "Sets in Order" magazines.
Many years of "Viltis" and "Let's Dance" magazines.
Dances Lawton and Sally taught include
Bachelor's Waltz,
Berliner Contra,
Bingo,
Bitte Man i Knibe,
Bow Belinda,
Bridge of Avignon,
Captain Jinks,
Carrousel,
Chestnut Tree,
Children's Circle,
Children's Polka,
Christ Church Bells,
Circassian Circle,
Circle Dance,
Cylinder Kontra,
Danish Family Circle,
De Kolom,
Doppl Quadrille,
Eight Hand Jig,
Esperano,
Familie Sekstur,
Feder Mikkel I,
Feder Mikkel II,
Firetur,
Flachsernten,
Greensleeves,
Grosse Runde,
Halve Kaede,
Harvest Time Jig,
Hatter,
Heel and Toe Polka,
Hol-Di-Ri-Di-A,
Hornfiffen,
Ionnsai na L Innse,
Jingle Bells,
John Brown,
Jump Jim Crow,
Kerry Dance,
Klapptanz,
Lamb's Fold,
Marine Four Step,
Matros,
Mulberry Bush,
Oh Susanna,
Parisian Polka,
Patty Cake Polka,
Pease Porridge Hot,
Ping Pong Schottishce,
Polka Sekstur,
Pop Goes the Weasel,
Push the Business On,
Puttjenter,
Red River Valley,
Retsch Ratsch,
Rheinlaender Polka,
Ribbon Dance,
Rig a Jig Jig,
Schrittwalzer,
Seige o' Ennis,
Sekstur,
Shoo Fly I,
Shoo Fly II,
Sisken,
Spinnradl,
Swing,
Swingola,
Three Sea Captains,
To Ting,
Trekante,
Trekantet Sløjfe,
Tretur,
Trommelvalsen,
Turn Around Me,
Vesterbopolsk.
Waves of Tory,
and
Yankee Doodle for Three.
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