The Janie Yates-Glandorf papers date from 1943 to 2005 and measure 9 linear feet. The papers are arranged in nine series: Personal, Education, Teacher, Theater, Senior Citizen Center Activities, Joan Andersen Hemm, Miscellaneous, Oversized and Artifacts.

When Janie Yates-Glandorf donated her papers she had already organized her materials into scrapbooks and folders. The Iowa Women's Archives has maintained the integrity of the collection by leaving the scrapbooks intact and refoldering the loose items in the same arrangements made by Yates-Glandorf. The titles of both the scrapbooks and the folders are the original titles used by Yates-Glandorf. As a result, photographs have not been pulled together as a collected series. Instead, photographs may be found in each of the scrapbooks, and loose photographs are included in some of the folders as marked. Meriting attention are the notes Yates-Glandorf added to the beginning of most of the folders and scrapbooks when she donated the materials, describing the relevancy of the items and/or the events they represent to her life.

The Personal series, 1943-2002, consists of a genealogy of both Yates-Glandorf's biological and adoptive parents and family photographs, along with a diary Yates-Glandorf kept through her teen years. Also in the series is a folder of Yates-Glandorf's church activities, and another folder containing some of her political views and opinions. Two rough drafts of Yates-Glandorf's memoirs, which include her memories of discovering she was adopted, her divorce from Rodney Yates, and her bouts with depression, are also in the Personal series, along with correspondence from her friend and co-teacher, Mary Ellen Moore, a eulogy Yates-Glandorf wrote for Moore and correspondence with Moore's children following Moore's death in 1998.

The Education series, 1947-1978, represents Yates-Glandorf's educational experiences from high school through her doctorate degree. Included are two scrapbooks: "Education, Honors and Awards" and "Teachers, Mentors and Other Influences on Janie." Several folders contain Yates-Glandorf's various diplomas and writing assignments she saved. This series also contains a copy of Yates-Glandorf's master thesis, "Dramatic Art in the Secondary Schools of North Carolina," and her PhD dissertation, "Two Approaches to the Teaching of Literature: Oral and Standard."

The Teacher series, 1959-1991, represents the scholastic side of Yates-Glandorf's long and distinguished teaching career, particularly the twenty-four years she taught at City High in Iowa City, Iowa. The series contains two scrapbooks and several folders representing many of the courses Yates-Glandorf developed and taught, including her Bible as Literature course that became a proto-type in Iowa. The folders contain notes, tests, sample assignments and papers. Of special notice are an unpublished manuscript Yates-Glandorf wrote titled, "This Is God," written in conjunction with her Bible as Literature course, and two papers in the Miscellaneous Writings by Janie the Teacher folder, "Philosophy of Education," and "Drama is Academic."

Also contained in the Teacher series are copies of the Faculty-Staff Newsletter that Yates-Glandorf edited at City High, nomination papers for the National Teachers Hall of Fame, information on the Janie Yates Drama Scholarship and four folders containing letters from former students and their parents throughout Yates-Glandorf's teaching career. Several boxes of slides that Yates-Glandorf used to complement her courses accompany this series.

The largest series is Theater, 1945-1997, which encompasses Yates-Glandorf's long career as an actress, drama teacher, and director. This series is divided into several sub-series: General, 1945-1997, includes two scrapbooks of Yates-Glandorf's early theater experiences, along with folders that contain general notes on theater courses, rehearsal schedules, and other theater activities. Also included is Yates-Glandorf's nomination to the Educational Theater Association (ETA) Hall of Fame, a scrapbook representing Yates-Glandorf's involvement with the International Thespian Society, and slides from productions Yates-Glandorf directed while teaching in North Carolina, 1959-1965.

The largest part of the Theater series is City High School, 1972-1990, where Yates-Glandorf spent the bulk of her career. This sub-series contains a folder with notes pertaining to City High's drama activities, along with several scrapbooks Yates-Glandorf kept from 1969 until 1991. Slides Yates-Glandorf used in her drama classes, as well as slides of many of the productions she directed are shelved with the archive's slide collection. This sub-series also contains several videocassettes of City High productions including a "western" version of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" and a production of "Bus Station" shown on Public Access Television (PATV). It should be noted that these videocassettes are not of professional quality. Cross Town Players was a traveling theatrical troupe Yates-Glandorf created at City High. A charm bracelet, with a written explanation for each of the charms by Yates-Glandorf.

TJ Meyers Theater was created by Yates-Glandorf as a tribute to one of her former students who died from AIDS complications shortly after he began a successful professional acting career. This sub-series, 1977-1993, contains a folder of notes, two scrapbooks: one containing TJ Meyer's acting accomplishments and another covering TJ Meyers Theater, and three videocassettes of TJ Meyers Theater productions.

The sub-series Miscellaneous Theater contains a scrapbook, 1976-1991, which includes material Yates-Glandorf saved regarding Repertory Theater, Iowa City Community Theater and Riverside Theater, all in Iowa City, Iowa. SSRO (Senior Standing Room Only) is the theatrical troupe Yates-Glandorf created at the Senior Citizen Center in Iowa City, Iowa. This sub-series contains two scrapbooks of SSRO activities, 1993-1996, and two videocassettes shelved with the archive's audiovisual cassette collection.

The Playbooks sub-series, 1959-1989, contains two folders of playbooks used by Yates-Glandorf throughout her career that are either signed by the playwrights or include personal notes written to Yates-Glandorf from the playwrights.

The Senior Citizen Center Activities series contains two videocassettes of several Senior Spectrum shows, aired on Public Access Television (PATV) in 1997. These shows depict Yates-Glandorf in her capacity as a performer, with one of the videocassettes featuring poetry readings and another one containing a cutting from Foxfire for a discussion group at the Senior Citizen Center.

Joan Andersen Hemm was a student of Yates-Glandorf who excelled in designing costumes for some of City High's productions. Hemm went on to form "The Shady Ladies," a troupe in Colorado that depicts nineteenth century saloon performers along with other legendary figures. The Joan Andersen Hemm series, 1988-2004, contains three folders of clippings, correspondence and promotional materials regarding Hemm's achievements, photographs of Hemm and her "Shady Ladies" in various costumes and a scrapbook that includes photographs of Hemm's self-designed wedding dress.

The Miscellaneous series contains a folder of Yates-Glandorf's writings, 1983-1984 and undated, that include letters to the editor, outlines for future projects and notes. This series also includes a folder on Edna Englert, which includes correspondence and an article that Yates-Glandorf wrote for the Cedar Rapids Gazette on Edna Englert, and Yates-Glandorf's engagement calendars from 1994-1997.