SCHOOL MEMORABILIA - Part 1
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Donation Details
From 1948 to 1956, Diana Slutsky Sanders attended Funston School, a K-8 school in Chicago, IL. She graduated from eighth grade in 1956. Fifty years later, after her classmates gathered for a reunion, Diane heard about the Museum of Teaching and Learning and she decided to donate to MOTAL her entire collection of annual class pictures, her graduation ribbons, her autograph book, plus the reunion booklet of biographies for classmates that detailed what they did and where they lived during those 50 years.
From 1948 to 1956, Diana Slutsky Sanders attended Funston School, a K-8 school in Chicago, IL. She graduated from eighth grade in 1956. Fifty years later, after her classmates gathered for a reunion, Diane heard about the Museum of Teaching and Learning and she decided to donate to MOTAL her entire collection of annual class pictures, her graduation ribbons, her autograph book, plus the reunion booklet of biographies for classmates that detailed what they did and where they lived during those 50 years.
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Background
The earliest use of photography for recording school memories can be seen in the 1860s by college students to share photos and memories, as a prelude to the yearbooks we know today. George K. Warren, an early American photographer, popularized the newfound technology for creating multiple copies of a single negative as a way for students to trade and collect photos. These “Warren yearbooks” consisted of class and individual portrait images bound together into decorative albums.
At the turn of the twentieth century, as photography grew and matured, professional photographers now had access to the technology for capturing formal student portraits, class photos, and extracurricular events. The printing press allowed for the mass production of yearbooks and photos, thus dropping the cost and making yearbooks and school memorabilia more accessible to schools and students across the nation. Through the study of school memorabilia, such as the items from Diane Slutsky’s childhood at Funston schools in the 1950s, we can see the ways in which the process of recording memories has changed over the decades. School portraits show the evolution of fashion and hair trends over time and provide keepsakes for family and friends.
The emergence of modern technology brought massive changes to the development of school memorabilia. Yearbooks are now easier than ever to create and edit through desktop software and the widespread use of digital photography capturing countless moments of classroom life. In addition, social media serves as a platform for sharing photographs and memories with loved ones with the click of a button. School memorabilia has evolved, over the decades, from physical objects like the autograph book and photographs to electronic photos.
The earliest use of photography for recording school memories can be seen in the 1860s by college students to share photos and memories, as a prelude to the yearbooks we know today. George K. Warren, an early American photographer, popularized the newfound technology for creating multiple copies of a single negative as a way for students to trade and collect photos. These “Warren yearbooks” consisted of class and individual portrait images bound together into decorative albums.
At the turn of the twentieth century, as photography grew and matured, professional photographers now had access to the technology for capturing formal student portraits, class photos, and extracurricular events. The printing press allowed for the mass production of yearbooks and photos, thus dropping the cost and making yearbooks and school memorabilia more accessible to schools and students across the nation. Through the study of school memorabilia, such as the items from Diane Slutsky’s childhood at Funston schools in the 1950s, we can see the ways in which the process of recording memories has changed over the decades. School portraits show the evolution of fashion and hair trends over time and provide keepsakes for family and friends.
The emergence of modern technology brought massive changes to the development of school memorabilia. Yearbooks are now easier than ever to create and edit through desktop software and the widespread use of digital photography capturing countless moments of classroom life. In addition, social media serves as a platform for sharing photographs and memories with loved ones with the click of a button. School memorabilia has evolved, over the decades, from physical objects like the autograph book and photographs to electronic photos.
Learn More!
If you would like to learn more about school memorabilia, we recommend the following:
https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2010/06/03/127412786/yearbooks
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1511.02575v1.pdf
If you would like to learn more about school memorabilia, we recommend the following:
- Smithsonian: Behind the Scenes
https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2010/06/03/127412786/yearbooks
- A Century of Portraits: “A Visual Historical Record of American High School Yearbooks” by Shiry
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1511.02575v1.pdf