Looking Back: Historic yearbooks

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society


It would be easy to underestimate the number of times I have referred to the yearbook collection at the Historical Society for information when putting together the articles written in Valley News. As do yearbooks from any school, the Grain Valley High School yearbooks provide a wealth of information about the history of our town.

The first yearbook was published in 1936. The second yearbook, published in 1938 has an alumni section at the end.  It has a list of every graduate from 1909, when we had only a two-year high school thru 1937. From this list, I learned their name, married name, address and occupation; very informative when doing genealogy.

​Successive books not only had a pictorial history of students and teachers, but also school board members, custodians, secretaries, cafeteria workers and school bus drivers. They also had advertisements, which have been helpful in establishing the businesses in Grain Valley during the 1900s. And pictures. We love using the old pictures in our displays and in the Valley News.

Treasure Chest Collection
Grain Valley High School Yearbooks
 
We have lots of yearbooks, especially from the 1940s through the 1970s. After that our collection is more sparce. I attribute that to lack of donations because most come from survivors; the children and grandchildren of the original yearbook owner. I suspect, many like myself, have held on to your high school treasurers, after all, for decades the yearbook was call “The Treasure Chest.”

This week I am putting out a request. The Historical Society would very much like to complete our collection. The years we are missing are 1941, 1946, 1966, 1980, `1986-90, 1999, and all of the 2000 books.

We also have several “extra” yearbooks which we are willing to give away. We have one or more extras from the following years: `1936, 1938, 1943, 1944, 1945, 19478, 1949, 1950 through 1956, 1958, 1960-64, 1970-76 and 1983.
So, if you have any of these old yearbooks collecting dust, bring them to us and we will be more than happy to add them to our collection for use or redistribution! As stated, they are full of history and fun to peruse. 

 
Visit the Historical Society Museum on Wednesday from 10 AM – 3 PM, or by appointment (816) 686-7582 and enjoy a look at some GVHS history from the students’ view.