Artifact Friday: West Point Winter Hop Dance Card

Winter Hop Dance Card (1920-1921)

The festivities around the holidays never ceased, no matter what time or place you happened to be. Parties and events typically fill up our schedules during this time just as they did over a hundred years ago for others. A nostalgic item from holiday parties is a winter hop dance card found at holiday events from a different time period.

A dance card is a small booklet that usually has a string attached to it that would be tied to a lady's wrist at different parties and social gatherings. These booklets would be used to keep track of every dance partner a lady might have; typically there were multiple lines in these booklets that a woman would fill in with her different dance partners' names, the music that was played, and where the event was held.

Not only would this dance card keep track of everyone who a woman might dance with, but it was also used as memorabilia to remember the event after it was over. These cards also came with some social implications as well; if a card was fully filled up, it would signal that this particular woman was quite popular. However, if a lady danced too often with the same partner, it was seen as improper.

These cards became popular starting back in the 18th century but stuck around for almost two hundred years after. The decline in popularity of the cards happened in the 20th century, around the 1920s and 1930s. Originally, the dance cards would be used in higher society; places like balls and galas would be sufficient venues to adjourn a dance card. Into the 20th century, however, many dance cards would be used at public balls and college dances, making it more accessible to the public and showing the shifting social order of the time.

In recent media and TV shows, you can see characters branding these dance cards. Most famously used in Bridgerton, it plays a critical role in the characters' choosing of dance partners, when to dance, and how not to be a wallflower.

The winter hop dance card here in our collection can show us the history of the changing social order of the 20th century and the holiday times of the season that has followed for generations. During the holiday season, there have been many traditions and parties that follow different times in history that can remind us of our new traditions being made every day.