Clues Among the Yearbooks, by George G. Morgan

My cousin Penny loaned me the college yearbooks for her mother’s years at Brenau College-Conservatory in Gainesville, Georgia, a while back. The name of the yearbook is Bubbles and the one I am browsing as I write this column is dated and copyrighted 1932. What a marvelous look into the past. Brenau is of interest to me because my mother and two of her three sisters attended, with some overlap of years.

I enjoy family academic yearbooks on several levels. First, they provide pictures of the environment in which my family members spent a significant period of their formative years. I can see the buildings, the instructors (often dour!), the students and the ways they dressed and wore their hair, the school and athletic uniforms, the various clubs and their activities, and the individual “biographical sketches” that accompany the seniors’ class photographs. These bios often contain cryptic or mysterious references to school-year hi-jinx and adventures. However, they are always interesting for their references to the activities and organizations in which the student participated. They often include the student’s aspirations for the future. (And it’s always interesting to compare if you know what the person actually ended up doing for a living.)

In the 1932 Bubbles, Penny’s mother, Beth Weatherly, is shown to have received a Diploma in Art, and she was a member of Theta Upsilon. The verbiage of her biographical sketch reads as follows:

“Entered from Meredith [College] ’29; North Carolina Club 2, 3; Secretary-Treasurer of N.C. Club 3; Brush and Palette Club 2, 3, 4; Vice-President Brush and Palette Club 4.”

This information tells me that she entered Brenau in the fall of 1929 and graduated in 1932. Her academic records from Brenau can probably be obtained from the registrar’s office. However, this entry points me toward Meredith College for prior information and transcripts.

During her tenure at Brenau, Beth joined a sorority and there may be records at Brenau of her activities or at the sorority’s national headquarters. The references to the clubs are followed by numbers that represent the academic year(s) in which she participated and held offices. I certainly want to learn more about those groups, both from the yearbook and from the school.

One of the most interesting things I found in my search was that each senior’s photograph was accompanied by a baby picture. Not only was this a cute touch, the baby picture might help me identify Beth in other juvenile photographs that people failed to label.

The senior class wrote its “Last Will and Testament” and other literary gems for inclusion in the yearbook, again providing a small glimpse into the character (or antics) of each person.

Yearbooks are often found among the possessions of your parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Your cousins may also have inherited them. If you can’t trace a yearbook within the family, the schools that your family members attended may well have a copy in the library’s collection. I’ve also been successful occasionally in locating a copy for myself in a used bookstore in the town in which the school was located. And don’t forget to check eBay; you never can tell who is trying to clean house and is willing to let one of these gems be sold.

You can also find yearbooks online at Ancestry. This is just the beginning of an effort to solicit these personal and community treasures from users like us and ultimately build a great library of yearbooks and annuals online.

Family history can be found in many, many places. Don’t overlook yearbooks for facts, clues, and a lot of smiles along the way.

Happy Hunting!
George

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George G. Morgan is the best-selling author of The Official Guide to Ancestry.com and How to Do Everything with Your Genealogy, both of which are available in the Ancestry Store. George and Drew Smith produce The Genealogy Guys Podcast each week. George is also now teaching online genealogical workshops for Pharos Tutors and for the Continuing Education Division of the University of South Florida in Tampa. Visit his company’s website at AhaSeminars.com to view his schedule of upcoming conference events.

4 thoughts on “Clues Among the Yearbooks, by George G. Morgan

  1. I just used this to my advantage the other day. The Janesville, Wisconsin’s Hedberg Library has a wonderfully extensive collection of Janesville High School yearbooks, beginning at 1912. And unlike other yearbooks from the same period, these at least have the group photos marked with last names to make them easier to identify.

    I was fortunate to have a huge set of folks I’m researching attend the school for several generations (themselves, their kids and grandkids).

    In one case, Bill, his first wife Mabel, and second wife Grace all attended Janesville High. Mabel was valedictorian, and quotes about her all pertained to her intelligence. Sadly, she died after only 4 years of marriage, leaving a 3 year old son.

    The second wife, Grace, according to later cousins, was not a particularly good stepmother, and the yearbook quotes reveal her personality by explaining that she liked to talk….a lot. And she also appears as a bit of a gossip. Grace, Mabel, and Bill’s sister Vivian were all in the Philotaxian Society, a club that promoted debate, extemporaneous speaking, poetry reading, and sisterhood.

    It is possible that the girls all became friends through the society, but that there may have been some jealousy toward Mabel by Grace. It looks to me like she may have taken that out on her stepson.

  2. One of my greatests finds was on a short genealogy trip that I thought was going to be a bust! I headed for the town my grandmother and her brothers went to high school. Since they were in this area for such a short time, I wasn’t certain what we would find, and in a very small town! I headed for the library only to discover they didn’t have much in the way of town history, county history….really nothing for genealogy at all! But, the librarian mentioned as an afterthought, we do have some old yearbooks. Of course, I wasn’t going to pass on the only bit of information they had!

    Not only did they have yearbooks for the years I needed, someone from my grandmother’s class must have donated those books. In each year of high school, there is writing from each of the classmates….including my grandma. Even without seeing her signature, her handwriting jumped right out at me! Not only was this a great genealogical find, it was very special to see this part of my grandma! This is the personal part of genealogy that I love!

  3. Don’t forget the local or closest Historical Society.
    Many have year books and some may even have information on your ancestor.

  4. I was fortunate enough to get a copy of the 1913 yearbook from what used to be the Normal School in Warrensburg,Missouri. Both my mother’s and my aunt’s pictures and remarks were in it. The library had several copies of that year and they gave me one. I gave them a suitable donation.

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