The High School is based on the premise that how we remember the past matters, and that high school yearbooks offer a unique window into remembering. Long after graduation, many individuals revisit their own yearbooks as poignant sources of memories of their high school years—kindling recollections of friends and frenemies, memorable teachers or coaches, moments and activities cherished or loathed. Examined together over many decades, high school yearbooks are also a unique window into our shared cultural memory.
Popular narratives too often offer up simplistic before-and-after views of social change, for instance the story that girls were not allowed to play interscholastic sports before the 1972 passage of Title IX in the U.S., and then sports participation for girls exploded in subsequent decades.
But 120 years of high school yearbooks reveal a more complex story: progress in moving toward equitable participation in sports, cheerleading, coaching, or student organizations is never linear or straightforward. Rather, social change happens in fits and starts, moving forwards, backwards, and sideways.
How we understand our history matters—not just so we have a more accurate view of what happened before us, but also so we can better grasp how we are all a part of the still-unfolding story of the role of schools in shaping democratic citizens.