The 1963 Hillside High School Marching Band on a trip to Washington, D.C.

A new batch of yearbooks from Durham County are now available on DigitalNC, courtesy of a new partner, the Museum of Durham History. Included in this collection are two yearbooks from Hillside High School in Durham, the 1960 and 1963 editions of The Hornet.  Hillside High School was the Black high school in Durham before integration and it remained a high school following integration, which was rare in North Carolina.  The school today has a long, proud history.    

These yearbooks contain individual student portraits, as well as class portraits and photographs of school faculty. The yearbooks also highlight aspects of the student life and student experience, including senior superlatives and class reminiscences. They also contain photographs and group portraits of student councils, clubs and activities like marching band and the school orchestra, the 1963 homecoming and a variety of sports teams. Finally, there is also a memorial in dedication to a student who passed away during the 1960 school year.

The 1960 Dramatics Club at Hillside High School

Follow the links below to browse the yearbooks included in this batch:

• The Hornet [1960]
• The Hornet [1963]

This new batch of yearbooks, the first of their kind from Hillside High School, is a valuable addition to DigitalNC. To see more from the Museum of Durham History, please check out their partner page or visit their website.

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]

We have just added new catalogs and yearbooks from Central Piedmont Community College. CPCC is currently the East Coast’s largest community college and was founded in 1963 when two colleges — Mecklenburg College and the Central Industrial Education center — merged. These yearbooks are from the years preceding the formation of CPCC and feature the students, staff, programs, and happenings of Carver Junior College and Mecklenburg College.

Mecklenburg College’s class of 1963 from the 1964 Echo.

Carver College was a predominantly Black junior college in Charlotte, North Carolina from 1949 to 1961. Carver College’s name was changed to Mecklenburg College in 1961, which it remained known as until its inclusion in the formation of CPCC in 1963.

These yearbooks capture scenes of students enjoying the campus and participating in events, organizations, and programs at the college and in the community.

Carver College students on their red ribbon winning parade float from the 1957 Carveran.

To learn more about Central Community College, visit their website or partner page here on DigitalNC.

All of the materials — college catalogs and yearbooks — uploaded in this batch can be accessed here. The yearbooks included in this batch are individually linked below.
The Carveran [1957]
The Carveran [1958]
The Carveran [1959]
The Carveran [1961]
The Echo [1962]
The Echo [1963]
The Echo [1964]