Here's a dance card from a ball given in Wisconsin on February 10, 1900, placing it halfway between two cards I had previously posted (from 1894 and 1906). The name of the town is cut off by damage to the card, but I'd guess it to be Westboro. The sponsoring organization is the Y.M.P.S. The card is printed in red with an American flag in blue (click the images at left to enlarge). The red pencil cord is still attached, though the pencil itself is long gone.
The card evidently belonged to a lady, since the first half of the card is filled with men's names. Most appear to be in the same handwriting and it's interesting to see that some partners are recorded by first name ("Richard") others with an honorific ("Mr. LaBeau") and others with both first and last names or initials ("Otto Rindt", "Frank H."). Frank and Richard seem to have been particularly favored partners, having received two dances each, though Frank got two quadrilles while Richard enjoyed a waltz and a polka. The back cover is covered with mathematical scribbles -- perhaps she used it as scratch paper later.
The dance mix on the card is typical of the late nineteenth century: seven quadrilles, five waltzes (including the final "Home Sweet Home"), three polkas, two two-steps, one schottische, the Virginia Reel, the Fireman's Dance, and a Grand March
Of particular interest are the two two-steps, a newly popular dance which appears not at all on the 1894 card but, in alternation with the waltz, dominates the 1906 one, and the interesting placement of the Grand March as the ninth dance out of the twenty-one on the card, with the first dance being a quadrille. This might be because the card is from a masquerade (costume) ball, and such balls were sometimes opened with a special Fancy Quadrille, as described on Kickery's companion blog, Historical Fancy Dress, in which a group of dancers with costumes matching a particular theme would perform:
At some fancy balls quadrilles are arranged beforehand, in which all the dancers are to be dressed after the fashion of some particular period. One of these quadrilles should open the ball, and others may be interspersed in the programme at irregular intervals.
-- Armstrong, Lucie. The Ball-Room Guide. London and New York: Frederick Warne & Co., c1880s.
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