The Library of Michigan is asking residents to donate their yearbooks. It’s part of a project to build a comprehensive collection from Michigan high schools, colleges, universities and vocational schools.
Yearbooks preserve more than just a school’s history, said Adam Oster, the community engagement librarian at the Library of Michigan.
“This is also a great snapshot of the communities across Michigan,” he said. “Each yearbook has its own distinct identity, and you're also getting aspects of the community at large within it.”
Yearbooks are great primary sources for researching genealogy or local businesses, he said. They’re especially helpful when researching veterans of World War I or World War II.
“These yearbooks may be one of the few places that you can find an image of a soldier before they went off into a combat area and maybe didn't make it back,” Oster said.
The library doesn’t just want to preserve the state’s history – it also wants to make it more accessible. Ideally, Oster said, the library will receive two copies of each yearbook – one to live at the library and one that can be circulated through interlibrary loan.
That way, residents who want to do research, or who couldn’t afford their own yearbooks (or lost them) can access them, free of charge.
“It's very much about giving greater access to some really cool resources while also preserving them for those next generations that come after us,” Oster said.
You can look up what yearbooks the library already has in its catalog – but Oster warned it may not be up to date, as processing donations can take time. Your best bet is to reach out to the library before donating.
You can contact the State Library at (517) 335-1477 or by email at Librarian@Michigan.gov. You can learn more about the donation process here.
“This is an opportunity to create an incredibly unique collection that everybody in our state can have access to,” Oster said. “And so much of this is going to contribute to the preservation and access to (the) Michigan story.”
