We have added nearly 50 yearbooks to our collection thanks to our partner Rowan Public Library. These yearbooks are from two Rowan County schools — Price High School in Salisbury N.C. and China Grove High School — and are especially unique in that they capture student life at two schools that existed only for a few decades.
Price High School’s main building from the 1960 edition of the Pricean.
The 1943 Pricean Yearbook was dedicated to two teachers who joined the U.S. military.
Price High School was Salisbury’s African-American high school from 1932 until 1969, when integration led to the closing of the school and the opening of today’s Salisbury High School. Included in this batch of yearbooks are seventeen editions of The Pricean, the annual from Price High School. These yearbooks include the usual contents of high school yearbooks — superlatives, group photos, class poems — but also notable graduates and the final class’ words of farewell and gratitude to the school. They also encapsulate notable events that occurred between 1943 and 1969.
One such historic event was World War Two, which was emphasized by the 1943 Pricean’s dedication. The yearbook was dedicated to Auxillary Ruth E. Miller and Seargeant James C. Simpson, both of whom were graduates of and teachers at Price High School before joining the U.S. Army. Ruth E. Miller was the first Black member of Salisbury’s Women’s Army Auxillary Corps while James C. Simpson was the first teacher from Price High School to join the U.S. army.
China Grove High School’s yearbook, The Parrot, captures some of the early years of the merging of the Rowan County Farm Life School with the city’s main high school that took place in the summer of 1921. According to the Eura Jones, a member of China Grove High’s 1924 class, China Grove High School “was the largest rural high school in the state” in 1921, and only continued to grow. She goes on to detail the school’s continued growth, boasting “two music departments, a teacher training department, glee clubs, four societies, a dramatic club, ball teams, a home economics club, athletics, agriculture, and most of all, the construction of a new three story building to house the growing school.” The yearbooks added to our digital collection span the years from 1923 to 1961.
Plans for China Grove High School’s Expanding Campus, completed by Architect Charles C. Hook.
These yearbooks are only a fraction of the materials we have digitized for the Rowan Public Library. To learn more about the Rowan Public Library, check out their partner page or their website.
Price High’s Driver’s Education Class, Cheering Squad, and First Year Industrial Arts Class from the 1956 Pricean.
Price High School – Salisbury, N.C.
The Pricean [1943]
The Pricean [1947]
The Pricean [1949]
The Pricean [1952]
The Pricean [1954]
The Pricean [1955]
The Pricean [1956]
The Pricean [1957]
The Pricean [1958]
The Pricean [1959]
The Pricean [1960]
The Pricean [1961]
The Pricean [1962]
The Pricean [1965]
The Pricean [1966]
The Pricean [1967]
The Pricean [1968]
The Pricean [1969]
China Grove High School – China Grove, N.C.
The Parrot [1923]
The Parrot [1924]
The Parrot [1930]
The Parrot [1931]
The Parrot [1932]
The Parrot [1933]
The Parrot [1935]
The Parrot [1936]
The Parrot [1937]
The Parrot [1938]
The Parrot [1939]
The Parrot [1940]
The Parrot [1941]
The Parrot [1942]
The Parrot [1943]
The Parrot [1944]
The Parrot [1945]
The Parrot [1947]
The Parrot [1948]
The Parrot [1949]
The Parrot [1950]
The Parrot [1951]
The Parrot [1952]
The Parrot [1953]
The Parrot [1954]
The Parrot [1955]
The Parrot [1956]
The Parrot [1957]
The Parrot [1958]
The Parrot [1959]
The Parrot [1960]
The Parrot [1961]
