A recent batch of yearbooks from Alamance County Public Libraries gives a special look into the life of high school students in the area in the early 1970s—especially 1972, a year with four yearbooks from across the county. The four high schools with editions from this year—Western High School, Hugh M. Cummings High School, Walter M. Williams High School, and Gibsonville High School—show a distinctive time in both student life and yearbook editing.

It may help to take a moment for context: 1972 was a big year for national an international news—against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, there was also the Watergate scandal, the launch of Apollo 16, and Bloody Sunday. Meanwhile, high school students were still dealing with the classic problems of being a teenager (trying out for sports, forming relationships, staying out of the principal’s office, etc.). Apparently, these elements combine to form one of the most exciting times to be a high school yearbook editor.

In addition to the embrace of hyphenated yearbook titles, 1972 was a year of dramatic openings, bold new fonts, collages, and—you guessed it—the mandatory iteration of the hit folk song “Turn, Turn, Turn.” But compared to yearbooks of past decades, 1972 has a lot to offer in terms of student photography, which is probably part of the reason that they are so fun to look at.

You can see the full batch of yearbooks here. You can also browse our entire collection of high school yearbooks by location, school, and year in our North Carolina Yearbooks collection. To see more materials from Alamance County Public Libraries, you can visit their partner page and their website.

Eighty high school yearbooks from Randolph County have been added to our site thanks to our partner, the Randolph County Public Library. This batch includes yearbooks from 15 schools: Trinity High School, Randleman High School, Star High School, Asheboro High School, Gray’s Chapel High School, Eastern Randolph Senior High School, Franklinville School, Coleridge High School, Biscoe High School, Farmer High School, Seagrove High School, Ramseur High School, Staley High School, Bennett High School, and Troy High School.

These yearbooks also span several decades of the county’s history, starting in 1944 with The Ash-Hi-Life and running through 1973, with four yearbook editions from Trinity, Randleman, Asheboro High, and Eastern Randolph.

Some of the special features in these yearbooks include a homecoming court straight out of a Ralph Lauren ad, the requisite reference to The Byrds, and pages of heartfelt notes from classmates. But one yearbook staff got especially creative, designing a board game that students can play with just their yearbooks and a coin to toss.

The game, presumably modeled after the game Life, describes events that still sound familiar to contemporary high school students. One square reads, “Back to school. Laugh at sophomores — get lecture on maturity. Lose 1 turn.” Others are less relatable: “Term papers: your typist charges you $1.50 a page and you run out of money on page 2 — Lose turn.” While the board does seem to be weighted toward academic and social pitfalls, at least all players start with a credit (since “Everybody passes biology first time around!”).

You can see all 80 yearbooks (so many!) here. You can also explore all of our digitized high school yearbooks by school name, location, and year in our North Carolina Yearbooks collection. To see more from Randolph County Public Library, visit their partner page and their website.

One more edition of Tuscola High School’s The Mountaineer has been added to our digital collections thanks to our partner, the Haywood County Public Library. This edition is from 1973, giving us a continuous run of the Waynesville school’s campus publications from 1967-1973.

Tuscola High School’s mascot, the Mountaineers (colloquially referred to as “The Mounties”) is appropriate for this campus, which is nestled in the North Carolina mountains (as you can see in the photo to the left). According to the school’s website, the school is “affectionately referred to as ‘The Hill’ due to our commanding view of the Smoky and Balsam Mountain ranges.”

In addition to the sweeping mountain views, a common sight in the 1973 edition of The Mountaineer is students arranging themselves into the shape of mountains. Apparently, this was the hottest formation for taking your club photo—especially if you got to be on the top.

Who can say why so many students felt the need to literally climb on top of each other this year? Maybe they were trying to camouflage in their mountainous surroundings. Perhaps it is a social commentary on relationships or teamwork. Though we may never know for sure, there are plenty of examples in this yearbook for the intrepid researcher.

You can see all editions of Tuscola High School’s The Mountaineer here. You can also browse our entire collection of high school yearbooks by school, location, and date in our North Carolina Yearbooks collection. To see more from the Haywood County Public Library, you can visit their partner page and their website.

A batch of yearbooks from Watauga county has just been added to our North Carolina Yearbooks collection thanks to our partner, the Watauga County Public Library. This batch includes yearbooks from four different high schools in the county and one edition of Parkway from Parkway Elementary (1953).

From Blowing Rock High School, we’ve added four volumes of The Breezes from 1953 to 1956. From Cove Creek High School (in Sugar Grove), we’ve added three volumes of The Coveteer from 1952-1956. From Boone, we’ve also got 18 more editions of The Laurel from Appalachian High School (1947-1965) and seven more editions of The Musket from Watauga High School (1966-1972).

Even though these yearbooks might make it seem like high school was just yesterday, there have been at least a few changes to the curriculum since the 1960s and ’70s. For instance, the Business Department at Watauga High School was much more typewriter-centric than business programs today. Some of the classes taught in 1970 included Typing (I and II), Shorthand, Bookkeeping, General Business, and Business English. Perhaps the focus on problem-solving skills has remained the same, though—the caption for the photo above reads, “Tony Hagler, and member of one of the typing classes, seems deeply involved with the completion of his problems.”

You can see the full batch of Watauga county yearbooks here. You can also browse our full collection of digitized North Carolina Yearbooks here by location, school, and year. To see more from the Watauga County Public Library, you can visit their partner page and their website.

Even though this year’s football season has come to a close, there’s still more of the sport to be found in our North Carolina Yearbooks collection. Our latest batch of 16 yearbooks from Graham High School, contributed by our new partner, the Graham Historical Museum, gives a glimpse into some of the history of high school football in North Carolina.

This photo, from the 1955 edition of The Wag, is called “Jubilant Conference Champions,” since this team was the Eastern AA champion of 1954 and the runner-up to the state championship.

It seems like the 1954 Red Devils were a bit stronger than the 1949 team, which published its season of scores in the 1950 edition of The Wag. Even though the team was victorious against Siler City, Draper, Mebane, Hartsel, Durham County, and E.M. Holt, they also took some tough losses against Roxboro and Oxford. 1949 was also apparently the year that the team faced off against Trinity in the Hosiery Bowl.

You can follow Graham High School’s football team of old and get a taste of student life in the full batch of Graham High School yearbooks here. You can also explore our full collection of digital North Carolina Yearbooks here. For more information about the Graham Historical Museum, you can visit their partner page and their website.

Get out your short shorts and low-top sneakers—it’s basketball season, 1970s-style. We’ve got several more photos of student basketball now that three more yearbooks from Vaiden Whitley High School have been added to our site thanks to the Wendell Historical Society.

Vaiden Whitley, now East Wake High School, is located in Wendell, N.C. in Wake County. These yearbooks show the school back in 1971-1973, also known as some of the most fashionable years for both yearbooks and student basketball uniforms.

While these games may not have been quite as exciting as some of the ones in this year’s NCAA tournament, they do illustrate North Carolinian’s longstanding cultural obsession with the sport. In 1971, the Vaiden Whitley men’s team only came out on top in 8/19 games—not quite as good as the women’s team, which won 7/13. Still, the coaches called it a “profitable season.”

You can see all three editions of The Shield in this batch here or browse all available editions from Vaiden Whitley High School here. You can also take a look at our full digital collection of high school yearbooks, organized by school, location, and year in our North Carolina Yearbooks collection.

To see more materials from the Wendell Historical Society, you can visit their partner page and their website.