Loading...
Creator
Sherman, Jane, 1908-2010
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 193
Physical description
13 linear feet (31 Boxes)
Preferred Citation

Inventory of the Jane Sherman Papers, 1922-2004, (S)*MGZMD 193. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Jane Sherman was the youngest dancer in the Denishawn group that toured the Far East 1925-1926. In later years she helped reconstruct those early dances. She also was an author of dance books.

Biographical/historical information

Jane Sherman was born June 14, 1908 in Beloit Wisconsin to Horace and Florentine Sherman. She graduated from the Newtown High School in Elmhurst, New York in 1925.

Sherman was the youngest member of the Denishawn Dancers, the dance group created by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. She toured with them to the Far East in 1925-1926, and in the United States, 1926-1927, she was a member of their troupe on the Ziegfeld Follies tour, 1927-1928.

Sherman joined the Humphrey-Weidman Company (1928-1929) when those two dancers left Denishawn. She also appeared in Broadway musicals, studied in Europe and danced with the Radio City Music Hall’s Rockettes.

Sherman married composer Ned Lehac, February 8, 1940, who died in 1999.

An author of several non-fiction juvenile books, Sherman also wrote several autobiographical books. Among those were: Soaring: The Diary and Letters of a Denishawn Dancer in the Far East(1976), The Drama of Denishawn Dance (1979), Denishawn: The Enduring Influence, (1983) and co-author on Barton Mumaw, Dancer (1983 and 2000). Sherman also wrote articles on the dance for Ballet Review, Dance Chronicle, and Dance Magazine.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sherman was the artistic director for the Denishawn Repertory Dancers. In this role, she prepared programs for appearances at Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in their 1996 series America Dancing. The group also performed at Jacob’s Pillow, St. Mark’s (in NYC), and Lyon Biennale de la Danse (France).

Sherman currently lives at the Actor’s Fund of America retirement home in Englewood, NJ.

Scope and arrangement

The Jane Sherman Papers span the years 1922-2004 with the bulk of the material between 1982 and 1999. They include correspondence, writings, personal papers, professional papers, manuscripts, and clippings. The collection is important in its documentation of Sherman’s writings and work with the Denishawn Repertory Dancers. Missing from the collection is information about Sherman’s early work with the Denishawn Dancers and Humphrey-Weidman Dance Co.

The Jane Sherman papers are arranged in five series:

  • Series I: Correspondence
    1925 - 2004
    This series contains correspondence. Sherman kept “carbon” copies of all her correspondence she used junk mail and old letters many times the front and back of the correspondence can be to or from different people. Notable correspondents include Barton Mu
  • Series II: Professional Papers
    1922 - 2003
    This series contains material consisting of financial medical material and photographs. Also included is information about the AFA retirement home Sherman’s writings including copies of her diaries from the Denishawn Tour of 1925-1926. In addition there i
  • Series III: Manuscripts
    1925 - 1985
  • Series IV: Clippings, Newsletters, Periodicals
    1916 - 2004
    This series contains newspaper clipping newsletters and periodicals. Many times Sherman would cut interesting articles out of the newspaper photocopy it and send it too friends. When possible the list of who it was sent to is included with the clipping
  • Series V: Oversized Material
    1925 - 1991
    This series contains oversized material including programs music a calendar and a photograph

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Sherman, Jane

Processing information

Processed by Leslie Reyman; Machine-readable finding aid created by Leslie Reyman.

Related Material

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

See also Jane Sherman papers relating to Allan Seager in the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Using the collection

Location

Jerome Robbins Dance Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.