39th CALLERLAB Convention 
MILESTONE AWARD
Presented by Jim Mayo
More than a decade ago The CALLERLAB Award of Excellence was presented to a long-time Member. The presenter had requested a Milestone award and the Executive Committee (EC) gave long consideration to that request. The accomplishments were extensive. They covered a broad range of activities. The proposed recipient had been involved in the activity for many decades. The EC stumbled over the second of the five criteria for Milestone recognition—that the accomplishments withstand the “test of time”.
In the year 2000 our recipient had started, just a couple of years earlier, a new project. It was clear that this project would be valuable, but there was no way to judge then whether it could meet the “test of time” criteria for the Milestone Award. That year our recipient was presented with the CALLERLAB Award of Excellence.
Now, 12 years later, it is clear that the new project has become, and will continue to be, a long lasting contribution to our awareness of the origin and development of the modern form of square dancing. While it is customary to keep the identity of Milestone recipients hidden until near the end of the presentation, in this case that will be impossible. As soon as I identify the project, many will know that I am talking about Bob Brundage. He has spent 15 years working to build a library of interviews with leaders of our wonderful activity.
For those who may not be aware of Bob’s long involvement in square dancing, let me repeat some of what his brother, Al, said in presenting the earlier award.
“He has been involved in square dancing for over 65 years. He started playing drums in a square dance orchestra organized by his mother as a 4-H club in 1933 or 1934. She traveled by horse and buggy as a young girl to play piano at square dances with her father, later played sound effects for silent movies, and eventually became a concert pianist. She wanted her sons to have some sort of a musical education and she overcame many problems to form the first music 4-H club in the U.S. Eventually, the entire family was involved in the square dance activity.”
Throughout his career, he has always had a positive effect on the square dance activity, from local and regional influence to national recognition. He has recorded on the Folkcraft and MacGregor labels. His personal style and teaching of timing and phrasing has influenced many new callers to show and teach the musical values of dancing. His philosophy is that dance steps are set to music; Music is not an incidental accompaniment to choreography.
Bob discovered a void in the documentation of the history and development of square dancing. There was very little written about the transition from what we now know as “Traditional” and our present Modern Western Square Dancing. He decided to get this history on tape to get a complete and accurate account from as many of the early leaders as possible before these leaders were no longer available. His goal was to create an unparalleled historical document for the Lloyd Shaw Foundation Archives. He has spent over two and a half years on this project. He has interviewed Hall-Of-Fame members, Milestone Award recipients, Silver Halo leaders, Silver Spur leaders, and well known national and regional leaders from all over the world. He has recently acquired an interview and lecture tape of Ed Gilmore taken at Ed’s Caller’s School in 1949.
That was 12 years ago. Since then, Bob has continued to work on this project, still at his own expense. He has expanded the number of interviews to well over 100. Nearly all have been transcribed and both the written files and the audio files are now available on-line on the website of the Square Dance Foundation of New England.
It is now clear that this work meets and exceeds the “test of time” criteria, thus supporting our award this evening of the CALLERLAB Milestone to Bob Brundage.