Scope and arrangement
The Job Sanders papers date from 1946 to 2008 and document his career in dance, choreography, and teaching through photographs, programs, articles, and choreographic notes. The collection consists of files for dance companies, ballets, and subjects. The degree to which each dance company, ballet, or subject is represented varies, though files typically hold photographs, programs, and articles.
The best-represented dance companies in the collection are the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), Nederlands Dans Theater, and Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Sanders' professional relationship with his first wife, dancer Sonia Arova, is represented through photographs and programs for their performances together with ABT and the American Festival Ballet. Other ABT photographs document a company trip and performances in Chile, summer classes Sanders taught in Denver, Colorado, and stills and performance shots for Giselle and Lilac Garden. Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo material primarily consists of programs and photographs from 1948 to 1950 documenting Sanders in several performances, most notably his role in Paquita (1951). Correspondence and publicity material for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo's 2000 annual reunion celebration is present. Nederlands Dans Theater files document Sanders' performance and choreography with the company during the 1960s and contain photographs, programs, posters, reviews, and scrapbooks. Other companies represented in the collection include Ballet Society, the Chicago Opera Ballet, the North Carolina Dance Theater, and Ballet Clasico de Bellas Artes.
Sanders' choreography is represented through programs, reviews, and rehearsal and performance photographs. Among the several ballets covered in the collection are Impressions (1967), Summernight (Norway, 1968), Threater Piece (1972), and Idylle (Holland, 1988). Sanders' ballets were frequently performed by multiple companies, such as Screenplay (1965), performed by Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet Nacional Chileno, and the North Carolina School of Arts. Choreographic notes and ballet scripts are also present for some works, such as The Careless Burghers (1957), Soleriana (1963), En L'Air (1970), and multiple unidentified dances.
The collection also holds student-related materials, tango programs and articles, and personal photographs. Student-related materials date from the 1970s to the 1980s and consist of performance and studio photographs and programs for shows put on by the North Carolina School of Arts, the Royal Conservatory at The Hague, and The Rotterdam Dance Academy. Many of the personal photographs are portraits taken by Sanders of friends and other dancers in casual, outdoor settings.
The collection is chiefly in English and Dutch, with some materials in Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, and Japanese.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged alphabetically by dance company, ballet, or subject.