Ralph Page

Page was born on January 28, 1903, in Munsonville, New Hampshire.{{cite web|date=|title=Guide to the Ralph Page Manuscript Collection, 1940–1985|url=https://library.unh.edu/find/archives/collections/page-ralph-manuscript-collection-1940-1985|access-date=June 2, 2021|website=Library|publisher=University of New Hampshire|language=en}} He grew up in Nelson, New Hampshire, where his Scottish-Irish American{{cite web|last=Oakes|first=Dick|title=Ralph Page|url=https://socalfolkdance.org/master_teachers/page_r.htm|access-date=June 2, 2021|website=socalfolkdance.org|publisher=Folk Dance Federation of California, South}} family had lived for several generations as farmers.

In 1934, he was elected selectman for Nelson by a five-vote margin over a more conservative incumbent, Harry Green.

{{external media|image1=[http://www.monadnockfolk.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Nelson40s0719.jpg Page calls a contra dance in Nelson, New Hampshire, in 1941]}}

Page began calling (prompting) contra dances in 1930 accidentally, when he was scheduled to play for a dance in Stoddard but the caller developed laryngitis.{{cite news|date=February 22, 1985|title=Ralph G. Page, 82; an authority on folk dancing in United States|pages=13|work=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78811480/obituary-for-ralph-g-page-aged-82/|access-date=June 2, 2021}}{{cite news|last1=Whitney|first1=D. Quincy|date=January 13, 1991|title=Salute to Page planned at UNH|pages=261,[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78811625/a-salute-to-page-planned-at-unh/ 264]|work=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78811528/salute-to-page-planned-at-unh/|access-date=June 2, 2021}} He took five days off per year from his work. Every Tuesday, he travelled to the Clarendon Street YMCA in Boston to call contra and square dances.

In 1944, Page was one of three founders of the New England Folk Festival Association. He was its president for several years.

Beginning in the 1950s, Page led folk dance camps across the United States.

In 1956, the U.S. State Department sponsored Page to tour Japan. During this trip, he called a dance for more than 4,000 people in a Tokyo stadium; he used hand signals, as he did not speak Japanese.{{cite magazine|last1=Osgood|first1=Bob|date=April 1961|title=As I See It|url=https://specialcollections.du.edu/datastream/%E2%80%9C67549e91-a20d-4894-8248-09ebd51dfcf0/pdf/null/67549e91-a20d-4894-8248-09ebd51dfcf0.pdf%E2%80%9D|pages=9–10|access-date=October 5, 2021|magazine=Sets in Order|via=University of Denver Digital Archive}}

In 1966, Page toured England and led workshops with the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

Page opposed the modern western square dance movement, and criticized its complexity in his writings.{{cite book|last1=Smukler|first1=David|title=Cracking Chestnuts: The Living Tradition of Classic American Contra Dances|last2=Millstone|first2=David|date=2008|publisher=Country Dance and Song Society|isbn=978-0-917024-30-6|location=Haydenville, Massachusetts|pages=12–13|chapter=Who Was Ralph Page?}}

Page died at age 82 on February 21, 1985, at the Cheshire County Hospital. He is buried in the Munsonville Cemetery.

Page married Ada Novak in 1945. He had one daughter, Laura Susan Wilson, born 1946. He lived in Keene.{{cite web|title=Ralph Page's Northern Junket|url=https://nelsonhistory.org/ralph-pages-northern-junket/|access-date=June 2, 2021|website=Nelson History|publisher=Nelson History Roundtable}}

Page was a bibliophile. He especially enjoyed history and mystery novels, and wrote an unpublished mystery novel himself.

Page never learned to drive, instead commuting by train or bus.

Page was active in local politics. He served as the president of the Cheshire County Historical Society for 15 years and as a selectman for Nelson from 1934 to 1938.{{Cite web|last=Rumrill|first=Alan F.|date=August 28, 2021|title=A moment in local history: Ralph Page, selectman|url=https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/a-moment-in-local-history-ralph-page-selectman-by-alan-f-rumrill/article_9a4307df-21d5-57fd-96cb-6bc25b296898.html|access-date=October 5, 2021|website=The Keene Sentinel|language=en}}

{{external media|video1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enxIms_o2RY Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, January 2020]}}

As an early American contra dance caller, Page is credited with sustaining and spreading the tradition, keeping it alive until the 1960s, when it experienced a revival due to the countercultural revolution.{{cite news |last1=Tremblay |first1=Caroline |title=1941 in Nelson: Special Contra Dance Travels Back in Time |url=https://www.sentinelsource.com/elf/1941-in-nelson-special-contra-dance-travels-back-in-time/article_c13481c8-a464-11e7-b58c-2bdefbe486b7.html |access-date=October 7, 2021 |work=The Keene Sentinel |date=September 28, 2017 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Bealle |first1=John |title=Old-Time Music and Dance: Community and Folk Revival |date=2005 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=9780253111685 |pages=37–38}} In 1977, Page received the Granite State Award.{{cite news |title=Contra Dance Caller Gets Granite State Award |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87287718/contra-dance-caller-gets-granite-state-a/ |access-date=October 18, 2021 |work=The Brattleboro Reformer |date=September 28, 1977 |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1980, he was given Callerlab's Milestone Award.

Page's papers are held in a collection at the University of New Hampshire library.

The Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, begun in 1988 and held annually in January at UNH, is named in his honor.{{Cite web|date=|title=Guide to the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend Collection, 1988–2017|url=https://library.unh.edu/find/archives/collections/ralph-page-dance-legacy-weekend-rpdlw-1988-2017|access-date=October 5, 2021|website=Library|publisher=University of New Hampshire|language=en}}

Page published Northern Junket magazine from 1949 to 1984. It contained calling instructions, folk tunes, and other folk culture, and an editorial. His other works include:

• {{cite book|last1=Page|first1=Ralph|author-mask=With|last2=Tolman|first2=Beth|title=The Country Dance Book: The Old-Fashioned Square Dance, Its History, Lore, Variations and Its Callers|date=1937|publisher=Literary Licensing, LLC |isbn=978-1-4940-3855-7}}
• {{Cite book|last=Page|first=Ralph|author-mask=0|title=The Ralph Page Book of Contras|date=1969|publisher=English Folk Dance and Song Society|isbn=0-85418-003-6|location=London|oclc=810699}}
• {{Cite book|last=Page|first=Ralph|author-mask=0|publisher=Lloyd Shaw Foundation|title=Heritage Dances of Early America|date=1976|location=Colorado Springs, Colorado|oclc=959505293}}
• {{Cite book|last=Page|first=Ralph|author-mask=0|title=An Elegant Collection of Contras and Squares|date=1984|publisher=Lloyd Shaw Foundation|isbn=0-915213-00-1|location=Denver, Colorado|oclc=10913290}}
• {{Cite book|last=Page|first=Ralph|author-mask=0|title=Contras as Ralph Page Called Them|date=1990|editor-last=Knox|editor-first=Ralph C.|oclc=22742269}}

• Dudley Laufman, later 20th-century contra dance caller

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.ceder.net/recorddb/artist_viewsingle.php?RecordId=1818 Ralph Page] at Vic and Debbie Ceder's Square Dance Resource Net
• [https://library.unh.edu/find/archives/collections/page-ralph-manuscript-collection-1940-1985 Ralph Page Manuscript Collection] at the University of New Hampshire

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Category:Contra dance callers

Category:1903 births

Category:1985 deaths

Category:People from Nelson, New Hampshire

Category:Square dance

Category:New Hampshire city council members

Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent

Category:People from Keene, New Hampshire

Category:20th-century American people