An exterior photo of Boyden High School (later Salisbury High) 1926.

DigitalNC is proud to welcome our new partner, the Rowan Public Library. Located in Salisbury in Rowan County, having their content online adds to our growing list of contributors who represent the Piedmont region of our state.

Their first contribution is nearly four dozen editions of The Echo, the school yearbook from Boyden High School in Salisbury. Stretching from 1921 to 1967, this collection covers a great transitional period in the school’s history. In 1926, the school had been renamed from Salisbury High School to Boyden High School after a new building was built. It used that name for nearly 50 years, until 1971, when it reverted back to the Salisbury High School name, where it still stands today.

Looking through the collection, it is fascinating to see the changes over time. While many of the first editions of Echo were smaller yearbooks, with the 1921 annual even calling itself a magazine, they expanded over time, including many more photographs and writing more about the students, their hobbies, and what they liked to do. For example, the 1940 yearbook includes a small note about how an overwhelming majority of the students prefer Glenn Miller’s swing music over all else, “accounting for the many jitterbugs.”

To learn more about the Rowan Public Library, visit their contributor page, or their website. You can also visit their website for the Edith M. Clark History Room. To see more yearbooks from across North Carolina, you can click here.