So, you’ve stumbled across your old yearbook? Ah, the memories!
Whether it’s from your elementary, middle, or high school years, those pages feature a documented history of your childhood. From class photos to handwritten messages from your parents and peers to snapshots from your favorite extracurriculars, there’s so much to explore.
But beyond reminiscing, there’s a long list of options you have when it comes to utilizing your yearbook effectively. Whether you are thinking of sending it to Classmates® for its digital collection, donating it to a historical archive, selling it, or gifting it to an old friend, here’s ideas on how to take action!
Key Takeaways
| – What can you do with an old yearbook? There are many creative ways to put your old yearbook to good use, including displaying it at home, framing favorite photos, adding it to a keepsake box, gifting it to a childhood friend, using it as an art project, or selling it as a vintage collectible on platforms like eBay or Facebook Marketplace. – How can you digitally preserve your yearbook? Classmates® has digitally archived close to half a million yearbooks and accepts submissions from the public. If your yearbook is not already in the collection, you can lend your copy to Classmates to be digitized and returned to you free of charge or order a hard or softcover reprint directly from the digital collection. – Where can you donate an old yearbook? If you are looking to give your yearbook a meaningful new home, consider donating it to a local museum, library, historical society, genealogy center, your school’s alumni network, or the Classmates® digital yearbook archive where it can be preserved and accessed by fellow alumni for years to come. |
15 Things to Do With Your Old Yearbook
Display Your Yearbook
It’s a great conversation piece having your yearbook out on display. Keep it handy on your book shelf or coffee table to share with childhood friends and family members when they stop by, or show it to new friends that are curious about your childhood and what you looked like.
Frame Classic School Pictures
Did you marry your high school sweetheart? Do you love reflecting on your time as a high school football quarterback? Still close with your childhood friends to this day? There’s a good chance your yearbook showcases special moments with the people you care about and activities you did during your time in school.
Will Ferrell’s senior photo. Explore the whole celebrity yearbook collection.
Dig into all of the pages of your yearbook to find your favorite photos of you and your friends/significant other to frame and display around your home. Or use your favorite pages in full as a vintage art display!
Add The Book Or Pictures to a Time Capsule / Keepsake Box
Remember that wave of nostalgia you felt when you first rediscovered your old yearbook? Recreate that feeling again down the road by storing the entire vintage yearbook or individual school pictures in a keepsake box for future use.
Gift It to a Friend
If rediscovering your yearbook has you feeling sentimental, think of all the other people you grew up with that would feel the same. If you’re willing to forgo having the book in your possession, give it as a gift to a childhood friend.
Not willing to give up your copy but still eager to gift it? Search the Classmates digital yearbook collection for free and see if it’s available. If it is, you can reprint a hard or softcover copy to give as a gift! If it’s not in the collection, you can also lend your copy to Classmates and we’ll digitize the yearbook on your behalf (more on this below)
Lend it to Classmates for Digital Preservation
Classmates has digitally archived close to half a million yearbooks spanning the decades.
If you’ve searched the collection and don’t see your own yearbook, you can submit your copy to be added to the archive. Once it’s received and processed, the Classmates team will upload it and send your copy back free of charge!
The screenshot above is for demonstration purposes. Individual user experiences may vary.
As long as you meet the following requirements, you’re good to send your yearbook to Classmates:
- U.S. yearbooks only
- The yearbook is not already in the database
- high school yearbooks from 2021 or earlier, junior high school yearbooks from 2017 or earlier, and elementary school yearbooks from 2010 or earlier.
- No water damage, loose/torn pages, detached spines, damaged or missing covers, pest damage, or contains graphic content or excessive writing outside of signature sections
Learn more about How to Submit Your Yearbook to Classmates here.
Donate Your Yearbook
Think of all of the history your yearbook encapsulates. It showcases what life was like in your area and during that specific time period.
There are a variety of places you can consider donating your yearbook to, including local museums, libraries, historical societies, genealogy centers, and your school’s alumni network.
Use Your Yearbook as Your Next Art Project
If you’re willing to forgo preserving your yearbook in full (or are willing to replace it with a full Classmates reprint) you can use it as a unique art project.
Consider cutting out favorite school pictures to use in a scrapbook or photo collage. Or use full yearbook pages as unique wrapping paper when giving a gift to a childhood friend.
Yearbook pages can even act as your canvas! Tear out a page and paint or draw over it.
Contact Old Friends
Wow, you’re seeing faces in those pages that you haven’t seen in decades! Why not reach out and see how those childhood friends are doing?
Head straight to the Internet to search their names and see if they’re registered on Classmates or are on other platforms. Register for Classmates to start your search. Once you’re signed up, you’ll be able to see all of the other registered alumni from your high school graduating class (and surrounding class years) and can send a message to anyone for free, and upgrade to CM+ so they can respond for free.
The screenshot above is for demonstration purposes. Individual user experiences may vary.
Here’s How to Search for Old Lost Friends Online with Classmates.
Pro Tip: if a woman from your graduating class has since been married but you’re not sure what her updated last name is, Classmates is the perfect place to search, since old high school alumni register with their maiden name.
Reminisce with Peers
Is your high school reunion coming up? How about a party with old friends? Break out the yearbook so you all can get that nostalgic feeling together.
Or use your yearbook to come up with fun activities to do as a group
- Who’s who: let the group see an old class photo and shout out who they think it is
- Then vs. now: create a slideshow with a side by side of their yearbook photo and a modern day picture.
- Where are they now: look at senior superlatives and see how accurate they turned out.
- Guess the senior quote: read a peer’s senior quote out loud and let the group guess who said it.
Post Yearbooks Pictures on Social Media
You don’t have to get together in person to reminisce together. Snap pictures of your favorite photos / pages of the yearbook on your favorite social media platforms for all of your peers to appreciate. Old and new friends alike are sure to show you a like and comment!
Once you login on Classmates, click on “View All” in the Yearbook Memories section of the homepage to share your favorite photos with all of the members of your graduating class.
The screenshot above is for demonstration purposes. Individual user experiences may vary.
Sell Your Yearbook
Vintage yearbooks are collectible. Try selling yours on eBay, at an antique store, at a flea market, or via Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.
Update It With Modern Footnotes
Are the old friends that wrote you messages still your friends? What major life events happened to your fellow schoolmates?
Write in the margins with status updates about everything that’s happened since you graduated.
Make it a Screensaver
Digitize your yearbook yourself by scanning your favorite pictures. Once you save them to your device and the cloud, use them as your phone or computer background so you can reminisce every time you go online.
Recycle Your Old Yearbook
If you’re decluttering and decide you are ready to dispose of your old yearbook, you should seriously consider donating or gifting it instead of letting it go to waste.
However, if it’s damaged or you need to get rid of it on the fly, you can consider removing the pages from the spine and recycling them. You generally can’t recycle it as a whole due to the binding and glue.
Use Classmates to Preserve Your Yearbook Online (& Explore Others)
Don’t hesitate to lend your yearbook to Classmates so that you and all of your peers can enjoy it in a digital capacity.
And be sure to check out the collection of close to half a million yearbooks in the Classmates archive. It might have other yearbooks of yours that you don’t currently possess. Or maybe you can find old school pictures of your loved ones. In either case, consider ordering a reprint to have in your possession or give as a gift.
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Yearbook reprints are created from previously owned copies and may include handwriting or effects of aging may be present, and pages, images, or other content may be missing or obscured.
