High school and college yearbooks capture a moment in time. When you’re a young graduate, it’s hard to think ahead to when your picture might become a valuable part of history. But we rarely know how our lives will impact others, and everyone’s picture tells a different story about a unique life.
In the local history room at the Athenaeum, we have a collection of yearbooks dating back to 1913. We have copies of Westfield High School’s Gammadion, Tekoa from Westfield State College, Tradesman from Westfield Vocational High School, and the Saint Mary’s High School yearbook (sometimes called Memento, other times called Focus). Whether you’re looking for a specific person or simply getting a sense of times past, it’s fun to browse them and see how much things have (or haven’t) changed. The yearbooks we have don’t circulate (they can’t be checked out) but you can ask for them at the Reference Desk and make photocopies or scans of them.
The yearbooks came in handy recently when our local history librarian received an email from a research volunteer with the Fields of Honor Foundation, based in Indianapolis, IN. The researcher was looking for a photo of Staff Sgt. Arthur E. Wilson (1922-1944) of Westfield, who died during World War II and is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery. Thanks to the donors and librarians of the past who built our yearbook collection, we were able to share a digital copy of his senior photo, and it is now on display in Margraten, Netherlands.
There are some yearbooks that we are missing. If you or someone you know has a copy available to donate, please contact Local History Librarian Kat Good-Schiff (kgoodschiff@westath.org). We would be happy to receive the following yearbooks:
- Gammadion: 1924, 1961, 1995, 2013
- Saint Mary’s: 1930-1950, 1952-1961, 1963, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1994, 2007-2011, 2013 + later
- Tradesman: 1972, 1973, 1984, 1985, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012
And congratulations to all of this year’s graduates!
Featured image: Gammadion 1921 yearbook staff – Margaret M. Crane, Chairman; Eleanor R. Mosely, Secretary; Edward E. Abell, Laura M. Gagne, Harold J. Slater; Advisory Board: Herbert W. Kittredge, Elizabeth F. Atwood, Thomas W. Bowler
— Kat Good-Schiff, Local History Librarian
