Hello! It’s very nice to meet you! The mission of the Vintage Baton Twirler is to support and celebrate the sport of baton twirling through the preservation of stories and pictures.
Thank you for your support of this
education and advocacy project.
Share Your Stories and Pictures
Support and celebrate the rich history and heritage of baton twirling through the collection, preservation and online display of historic materials. Eventually, we want to publish oral histories, hence adding to the historical record of a sport grossly underreported by mainstream media.
Unfortunately, lost in the mists of time are stories and pictures. Without ever being interviewed, baton twirling heroes and legends pass away. Consequently, lost forever are the viewpoints, perspectives and even eyewitness accounts that shape the historical record. As such, the documented history of twirling becomes limited or inaccessible. Moreover, priceless photos and ephemera are lost, stolen, trashed and/or destroyed, etc.
Therefore, we invite you to share your stories and pictures with us. No story is too small, no photo too grainy. This site has space for it all. If it’s important to you, it’s important to us. So, please contact us. Send your stories, pictures and/or videos to info@vintage-baton-twirler.org or contacts us on our Facebook page, The Vintage Baton Twirler. Also, we can also receive items by mail. If you have items to sell, we have funds available to purchase collections, etc.
See Collections
We are building an archive of baton twirling images and stories from the 20th Century. We have a long way to go. On the other hand, we’ve already made great strides. Nevertheless, the collections featured on this site are only partially complete. Those with red stars have content.
Currently, collections include seven decades; Black baton twirlers; male twirlers; memorabilia and ephemera. Soon, we will begin publishing sports heroes and legends, pageant twirlers and more. Ultimately, we have so many special things planned. Truly, you don’t want to miss a single post so please subscribe.
If you have a suggestion for a new collection, please email us at info@vintage-baton-twirler.org.
Oral Histories
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information using sound recordings of interviews with people having personal knowledge of past events. If you would like to share your history of baton twirling, please let us know. We are available to conduct interviews every Friday by phone. In addition, we can communicate by email, if you prefer. Interviews will be published on this website.
Posts Memorials and Tributes
Memorials are given to remember someone who is dearly departed. Tributes honor the living. We invite you to publish a free memorial or tribute honoring someone who has impacted your journey in the sport of baton twirling. For example, your mom, dad or grandparent. Also, former coaches, students, teammates, teachers or friends, etc. Memorials and tributes are featured in dedicated posts and may include letters, pictures and/or videos, etc.
Thank you for allowing the legacies of those who have gone before us live online and inspire others to give selflessly to this sport.
Thank You
Thank you for helping preserve the history of baton twirling. You may not think your story is important but absolutely, it is. As previously stated, we are preserving photographs to understand what our lives have meant and sharing your stories to gain a deeper understanding of experiences.
Top Photo: Bettye Lou Sorrells (1936-2022) leads the Gilmer Buckeye Band down Buffalo Street, Gilmer, Texas, 1953. Photo Credit: Growing Up Gilmer
Most Recent Posts
Marion Caster: The Los Angeles Rams Majorette Who Became a California Icon
The Neon Majorette — The iconic sign as it originally appeared at the Campus Drive-In Theatre in San Diego. Marion Caster Baker was a majorette for the Los Angeles Rams in 1947. She is also suspected to be the inspiration and model for the famous neon majorette sign...
Baton Twirler Featured in Julia Fullerton-Batten’s New Hollywood Backdrop Series
British-German fine art photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten has included a baton twirler-inspired scene in her new photographic series The Art of Hollywood, a project built around authentic hand-painted Hollywood backdrops once used in classic motion pictures. The...
Twirlers from Murdo, South Dakota (1965-66)
This is the first time we've come across vintage baton twirling photos from South Dakota. The photo is so exceptional we wanted to share it.
Vintage Ephemera
Baton twirling ephemera refers to things like programs, posters, patches, stickers, magazines, newsletters, and other things typically written or printed that were used for a specific period of time.
Majorette Memories
We welcome high-quality scans of your vintage baton twirling ephemera. You can also receive items through the mail. We’ll digitally preserve your memories in high-quality scans. Thank you so much for supporting this project.
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