My daughter came home from school the other day quite excited. She was excited about the submission she was to prepare for the yearbook which was extended to all students in the senior graduating class. She was really eager to set about filling in her favourite quotes and memories and such. I don’t recall being able to self-submit much in my graduating year. I asked her why she was so motivated and she replied, “Because…this is how people will remember me…. and I was looking at your yearbooks and thought, huh?”. I didn’t press for what that meant! I did reply, “But it is just a yearbook and they are still only in hard copy, right?… and you have social media sites, unlike in my day.” She dismissed the significance of that though. I was left thinking about a few things… the past and the future… and about memories and yearbooks.
The creation of school yearbooks has certainly changed, but I guess they are one thing not published or desired to be online (except for the odd scanned image, I suppose). The physical signing of yearbooks still seems to be a cherished thing. A few days after this conversation with my daughter, I noticed this link to a story shared in my Twitter feed: “Someone Found a High School Yearbook from 1913 and Put it Online“. Yikes…but quite interesting! I think I will go hide my yearbooks now 🙂 Do you keep yours around?
SheilaSpeaking 
Jan 14, 2014 @ 19:47:10
Why yes, I do have my yearbooks from high school. They make for interesting reviewing every now and again. It’s particularly interesting when you make a connection on Linkedin or Facebook just to see how far we’ve all come. I’ve even got a couple of yearbooks from my years of teaching. My only regret is that I didn’t buy one for every year. As with most things, hindsight is 100%
Jan 15, 2014 @ 08:56:51
Such a coincidence! Just last week, while huddled around the fireplace during the snow storms, the kids came across our old yearbooks. Oh, what fun they had trying to find me! It was all about big hair in the 80’s and when they finally found me, they split their sides squealing and laughing at my perm. I have to admit, I laughed, too! They poured over the pictures and inscriptions, oohing and aahing over a few “xo” thinking it might be from a former boyfriend. They dug out Dean’s old yearbooks and did the same. They saw our band and various club pictures. It was a trip down memory lane, for sure, but it felt good to share snapshots of our high school experiences with them – as it’s right where they are right now, our eldest in grade 9 and the twins in grade 7 (all in the same high school). We connected, in some strange way, and I think our eldest, for a brief moment, smiled and was able to see her parents as a couple of junior high school kids; awkward, geeky, shy, nervous – going through similar things – not so different from her grade 9 self. It was a good moment. So keep those yearbooks on the shelf, Sheila, long live the high school yearbook! Cheers!
Jan 15, 2014 @ 16:28:45
Glad to know, Doug and Tracy, that I am not the only one with these musty old archives still around 🙂
That’s a great story, Tracy! I think my girls saw their parents in a whole different light too!
Jan 15, 2014 @ 21:08:29
I have my yearbooks from school and from all my years of teaching, too. However, most of them are packed away in a box somewhere. I figure my own children will dig them out someday…
Jan 15, 2014 @ 23:59:24
There may be a time when it will be just right for them to dig in too, Philip… and for you to enjoy their response!
Jan 16, 2014 @ 16:22:10
What timing! I was so surprised to find a link posted on FB that led to a local school’s history and 50 years of yearbooks and their pages reproduced and loaded to read online (as recent as the 1980s). I may be naïve or out of the loop or both 🙂 but it doesn’t sit with me well and still thinking on it. I would certainly ask for permission to post an old picture of someone in my online spaces…so that’s where I struggle with this. Is a yearbook different? Will this affect what my daughter submits to her yearbook? Should it?