Ancestry.com recently announced that it had expanded its U.S. School Yearbooks Collection. I tried it out and found my cousin, Milton Siekkinen, and his wife-to-be, Mary Jeanette Scovill, in The Dart, the 1939 Ashtabula High School yearbook. Milton was listed as a participant in Glee Club and Mixed Chorus. Mary Jeannette’s activities included Band (she was secretary-treasurer), Girl Reserves [?], Hobby Association, and Salesman [?]. Ironically, they were shown on the same page.
Following is the complete announcement by Ancestry.com:
ANCESTRY.COM EXPANDS U.S. SCHOOL YEARBOOK COLLECTION TO INCLUDE MORE THAN 150 MILLION RECORDS OF RELATIVES’ SCHOOL DAYS
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 http://www.ancestry.com/yearbooks to search the full collection.
I would recommend that you check for your ancestors and even cousins in this database.
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