How to Find Copies of Old High School Yearbooks

Many people lose their high school yearbooks. Some even purposefully get rid of them, only to regret doing so later on. A yearbook not only has posed headshots of each student, it also has photos from clubs, activities and sports. It has spontaneous shots such as of kids in the hall, your old art classroom, and the teachers you adored or disliked. Many different resources are available both online and off to help locate old high school yearbooks, whether you want to purchase a copy or just look in one to find the name of someone with whom you graduated.

Contact the high school where you went to school. Sometimes schools keep old yearbooks, although they may only have one copy from each year. The school may allow you to look at a yearbook, in which case you can get the publisher information from inside the book.

Contact the publisher to see if it is able to reproduce your high school yearbook. Sometimes you can get a reprint of a single copy of your yearbook, although prices will vary and are often more expensive than buying a used copy.

Call the local library nearest to the high school. Some libraries keep copies of the local schools' yearbooks. These will be stored in the reference section, so you will be unable to check them out. However, you can look through them while in the library.

Ask old friends from high school if they still have their yearbook. Social networking sites, such as Facebook and MyLife, allow you to stay in touch with friends from your school much easier than in the past. Ask to buy or borrow a yearbook.

Search eBay for listings of used yearbooks. Search online yearbooks at sites such as Memory Lane, where you can view and turn the pages of a yearbook on your computer. Memory Lane does not have all yearbooks ever made, but there are many yearbooks scanned in from the 1940s through the 1990s. You can preview the books for free, but a paid subscription is required to access all content available on the site, including yearbooks, music, movies, magazines and radio in the form of audio files, video clips and scanned images.

Note

If you don't find your yearbook through online sources on the first try, keep looking. New listings are added regularly.

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