There’s nothing like an old annual to bring back memories. I just spent a few minutes browsing the 1964 Orting, Washington high school yearbook. And the memories came flooding back. Although I didn’t attend school there, many of the Orting freshman class were among my friends.
The following News Release was written by Ancestry.com staff:
PROVO, UTAH – August 24, 2011 – Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, today announced a massive expansion of the world’s most extensive searchable collection of U.S. school yearbooks online. The company has added nearly 25,000 new yearbooks to the collection, which now totals over 35,000 and carries 155 million records encompassing the years 1884 to 2009. The U.S. Yearbook Collection includes close to seven million images from thousands of U.S. high schools, junior highs, academies, colleges and universities.
The U.S. Yearbook Collection provides candid photos and insight into a relative’s appearance and extracurricular activities during their formative school years. The information and images contained in the collection also reveal insightful historical and cultural trends about fashion, style, politics, sports and social beliefs over the past 125 years of U.S. history. With the addition of the new records, family historians can more easily find what their current family members and ancestors looked like as youngsters and discover the types of activities in which they were involved. This collection can help tell a more complete story by offering rich details and providing context about the time their family members were in school.
“Our school years are often some of the most memorable times of our lives,” said Josh Hanna, Ancestry.com Executive Vice President. “With the additions we’ve made to our U.S. School Yearbook collection, millions of Americans can experience their family members’ school years vicariously through the photos and records contained in this important collection. The details they include are often difficult to find, and while you’re searching, you might just find a famous classmate.”
For anyone interested in discovering their ancestors in the online yearbook collection, visit to search the full collection.
GenealogyBlog.com has an affiliate relationship with Ancestry.com.
Leland, I’m so glad you brought this to my attention! On a cursory search, I found the yearbook for the years my grandfather was a high school teacher, and also found my dad on the JV high school baseball team and my uncle on the football team … which I never knew! I can’t wait to do some REAL searching!