Archives

From the Archives

Yearbooks – why do we have them? Who are they for? Who looks at them? Why do they look at them? Who decides what is included – because something has been in there for the last 100 years, is it still relevant today? I believe the answers to those questions change depending on the perspective you are asking them from. As a parent you go through the yearbook looking for evidence that your child has been in school and contributing in a relevant way to committees, clubs, performing arts, academically, arts, sport, or whatever took their fancy for that year.

As a current student you might look for that same evidence or just check out your friends and what they were up to and maybe even see if there is something that might interest you for the coming school year. Is that another role a yearbook has – advertising activities? A Year 13 student that has just left, if anything like my recent leaver, might be quite happy to file their yearbook away without so much as a glance at the glossy pages as they focus firmly on their future prospects. a little trek down memory lane with some of their classmates. Current and past students alike may well be looking for information, or photos, of relatives that attended the school before them, sometimes being able to trace back as many as four generations here at SMC.

For an archivist, yearbooks going back to nearly the beginning of the school give a glimpse into the life of students here at SMC, the big snow of 2012, the rebuilding of the school after the shakes of 2010 and 2011, uniform styles through the years, sports teams, records of staffing, some pictures of the early years. As our school has evolved across the years, so has our yearbook. From very dull 99% text to the bright and colourful publications of today. From A5 booklets to A4 nearly 2cm thick productions that show off the achievements of the year for everyone that gets a copy. So many times past yearbooks have yielded valuable information about a person or team or activity that I have been questioned about. Questions I am always happy to answer especially if it involves a walk down a path that leads to the wonders of yearbooks.