May Day Festivals in America, 1830 to the Present

Allison Thompson is a writer, historian, and folk dance leader and musician. (She was the student dance leader for the Elizabethan May Day festival held at Earlham College in 1977.) She lives in Pittsburgh.

Table of Contents



Acknowledgments     

Introduction: “I’m to Be Queen of the May, Mother!”     



Part I: May Day



THE MAKING OF MERRIE MAY

1. Celebrating May Day in England before 1800     

2. The Making of May Day in Merrie England     

3. John Ruskin and the Whitelands College May Queen Festival     

4. Merrie May Day in the New World     



SETTING THE STAGE FOR PERFORMANCES

5. Physical Education for Girls and Young Women     

6. “As the Child Plays, So Will the Adult Perform”: Progressive Reformers and the Playground Movement     

7. The Educational, Hygienic, Civic, and Moral Benefits of Folk Dance     

8. The Pageant and Festival Movement     

9. The Urban Child’s May Day     



THE COLLEGE MAY DAY FESTIVAL

10. The Making of the College Girl of 1900     

11. Origins of the College May Day Pageant     

12. The Play’s the Thing—College May Day Pageant Themes     

13. Corydon in Arcadia—Men and May Day     

14. Maypole Dances and Drills     

15. Crowning the College May Queen     

16. The May Queen Unthroned     



MAY DAY FESTIVALS OF TODAY

17. May Day as Labor Day, Loyalty Day, Law Day, Child Health Day, and Lei Day     

18. Celebrating an Old English May Day Today     

Conclusion: “The Merriest Day of All the Glad New Year!”     



Part II: The College Festivals



Agnes Scott College     

Albright College     

Auburn University     

Bates College     

Berea College     

Bluffton University     

Brenau University     

Brown University     

Bryn Mawr College     

Bucknell University     

Carleton College     

Case Western Reserve University     

Chatham University     

Colby College     

College of Wooster     

Columbia College     

Converse College     

DePauw University     

Duke University     

Earlham College     

Elmira College     

Goucher College     

Grinnell College     

Grove City College     

Hollins College     

Hood College     

Indiana University     

Iowa State University     

James Madison University     

Judson College     

Kansas State University     

Kent State University     

Lebanon Valley College     

Mary Baldwin College     

Meredith College     

Miami University     

Mills College     

Mount Holyoke College     

Muskingum College     

Newcomb College, Tulane University     

New Mexico State University     

Oberlin College     

Oklahoma State University     

Oregon State University     

Pennsylvania State University     

Randolph College     

Rockford College     

Rollins College     

Russell Sage College (The Sage Colleges)     

Salem College     

Scripps College     

Simmons College     

Skidmore College     

Smith College     

Sweet Briar College     

Trinity University     

University of California at Berkeley     

University of Charleston, West Virginia     

University of Colorado     

University of Denver     

University of Idaho     

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign     

University of Kansas     

University of Maryland     

University of Minnesota     

University of Missouri     

University of New Hampshire     

University of Puget Sound     

University of Richmond (Westhampton College)     

University of South Carolina     

University of Tennessee     

Ursinus College     

Valdosta State University     

Wartburg College     

Wellesley College     

Wells College     

Westminster College     

Wilson College     

Winthrop University     



Chapter Notes     

Selected Bibliography     

Index