The other day I learned that Andover School, my elementary and high school alma mater, published a yearbook for 1928. I was doing a routine search on Ancestry.com for my grandmother Grace Darling Dingman/Tripp/Stafford (born Green; adoptive name Morley). I was searching specifically for Grace Tripp. At the time, she was married to–but separated from–John James Tripp.
Two results came up for her in the 1928 Andover School Yearbook in the U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2013 collection. One result was a summary of sixth-grade class activities signed by Grace E. Tripp [I believe that the middle initial was intended to be D. for Darling]. The other result was a group photograph of the faculty.
When I graduated from Andover High School in 1956, the school didn’t have a formally printed yearbook, so I was unaware of any such publications in the school’s history. If the 1928 Yearbook hadn’t been digitized and I hadn’t found it in my Internet search, I never would have thought to look for it.
This was an A-ha Moment because I knew from family lore that Grandma Grace taught in the Andover School, but I wanted confirmation for that fact and also for what grade she taught.
The bonus in this discovery was Grace appearing in a group photo of the faculty for all 12 grades in the school complete with a caption identifying each teacher. The image was a bit fuzzy, but I was happy. Grace was camera shy so photos of her are very scarce.
After thinking about this for a couple days, I decided today to search some more to see if there were other yearbooks from Andover in Ancestry’s yearbook collection. My reward for this extra effort was finding the 1929 Yearbook. In this yearbook, my grandmother was identified only as Mrs. Tripp in the faculty photograph. This photo was much clearer and I was able to do the following screen capture of Grandma Grace:
Mrs. Grace Tripp photo excerpted from faculty group photo in 1929 Andover School Yearbook.
The 1929 Yearbook also included a summary of activities for the sixth grade, but without attribution. I believe, however, that it is safe to assume that my grandmother was the teacher directing those activities.
Thank you Ancestry.com for publishing these yearbooks in the Yearbook Collection!
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