On-line archives house yearbooks from the Mount Vernon area and beyond!
Last fall, in pursuit of a local history lead, I entered the West Potomac High School (WPHS) Library. I was looking for copies of the Fort Hunt High School yearbook, The Fortress. When you think of historical reference material, your imagination may conjure curled, yellow pages filled with 18th century script. Yearbooks, on the other hand, with their embossed faux-leather covers, may not be the first resources that come to mind, but they are a wonderful aggregation of detail about a community: its people, events, and trends. Even the sponsors and advertisements offer a valuable, thoroughly-enjoyable record of earlier times.
At the start of my research, I located a couple volumes of The Fortress online at Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL), but not the years for which I was searching. FCPL had digitized those two volumes through the Library of Virginia (LVA), in Richmond. LVA began “The Virginia Yearbook Project” in 2015 as an outgrowth of an earlier effort that “included loaning scanners and computers to Virginia libraries in the hope of bringing to light hidden local history collections housed in public libraries….. Once the pilot project of scanning materials at 11 libraries was completed, it became evident that school yearbooks made up the bulk of the scanning at the local libraries. ”
LVA’s Virginia Yearbook Project is funded by grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) a federal agency that supports libraries and museums along with Lyrasis and Internet Archive, two non-profit organizations that support public access to digitized materials.
At the WPHS Library, Head Librarian Jessica Landon and Wendy Rice helped me to access their nearly complete physical collection of the Fort Hunt Fortress. Leafing through a dozen of the weighty volumes, I found exactly what I needed and more. Since West Potomac was created when Fort Hunt High School and Groveton High School merged in 1985, it makes sense that their library also houses a nearly complete collection of Groveton High School’s Yearbook, Tigerama.
“Yearbooks hold all sorts of information, on everything from genealogy to educational trends and segregation to fashion history. This glimpse into society is packaged within a single cover,”
—Rose Schooff, originator and now-retired manager of the LVA’s Virginia Yearbook Project
When I commended West Potomac’s yearbook collection to Chris Barbuschak, Archivist with FCPL’s Virginia Room, he shared some good news. The Library of Virginia had just approved digitization of additional volumes. He contacted Jessica Landon, who ensured that both the Fort Hunt Fortress and Groveton High School Tigerama collections from West Potomac were delivered to the Virginia Room in time for shipping. They were added to other yearbooks awaiting digitization including copies of the Mount Vernon HS Surveyor.
The Fortress, Tigerama and The Surveyor, however, don’t hold the complete picture of High School life for the Mount Vernon Area. Starting in 1954, Luther Jackson High School on Gallows Road was the High School for black students in Fairfax County. Until 1965, when county schools were fully integrated, African-American high school students in our community had a much longer commute than their white neighbors. All volumes of, The Tiger, Luther Jackson’s yearbook are available on-line. Fairfax County transitioned Luther Jackson into an integrated intermediate school which opened in the Fall of 1965.
Below is a listing of currently available digitized yearbooks from the Mount Vernon area with an indication of gaps in the collection. Just this week, Elaine Nuzzaco, Mount Vernon High School Head Librarian, paved the way for filling a considerable gap. She confirmed that the school has physical copies of nine volumes of the Surveyor that had been missing from FCPL on-line collection. Hopefully, these volumes, including the sought-after initial volumes from 1940 and 1941 will be digitized this Summer.
| Yearbook | On-line Holdings | Missing Volumes |
| Mount Vernon HS “The Surveyor” | 1942-1977 | 1981 (the 1940, 1941, 1959-1961, and 1971-1974 are pending digitization) |
| Luther Jackson HS “The Tiger” | 1955-1965 | none |
| Groveton HS “Tigerama” | 1957-1985 | 1982 |
| Fort Hunt HS “The Fortress” | 1964-1985 | 1969 and 1982 |
If you are ready for the trip down memory lane, Fairfax County Public Library’s yearbook holdings can be accessed here. The Library of Virginia’s holdings can be accessed here. You will note that intermediate and elementary school yearbooks are not present in large numbers. Originally, some volumes were accepted for digitization, but since 2019, LVA has focused the program on High School yearbooks. Due to copyright law, LVA’s program was originally limited to volumes prior 1977. A recent reassessment by legal counsel at the Office of the Attorney General has cleared the path for digitizing yearbooks up through the 1980s.
If you discover that you have any of the missing volumes noted in the chart above, you have a couple options for facilitating access to these materials for future researchers. If you are willing to part with your yearbooks, the Virginia Room will happily accept them as a donation. In addition to digitizing volumes, they will preserve them as part of their physical collection at the Fairfax Regional Library. If you want to retain your copy but are willing to lend it for digitization, the next batch is anticipated to go out in Summer 2020. Yearbooks are boxed up and sent to Princeton, NJ where Internet Archive digitizes them. The typical turnaround time is approximately 2-3 months.
While elementary/intermediate yearbooks cannot be digitized at this time, if anyone would like to donate their physical copies to the Virginia Room, they would love to have them! Contact va_room@fairfaxcounty.gov for yearbook questions and donations.
As you delve into the memories, artwork, personal stories and fascinating ads for defunct businesses in these yearbooks, please take the time to thank the school and local librarians who have worked to put these treasures on-line!
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