In May of 2019, the Appomattox Regional Library System(ARLS)  partnered with the Library of Virginia (LVA) to digitize a collection of yearbooks from Hopewell High School spanning the years of 1925 through 1977. To see the ARLS’ digital yearbook collection click here.

The Yearbook Digitization Project from the Library of Virginia’s Library Development and Networking Division allows people to browse yearbooks online from high schools across Virginia. Funded by the Library Services and Technology Act, the collection currently includes a large number of yearbooks dating from 1912 to 1977.

The idea for the project began in 2012 after the Division loaned scanners and other equipment to Virginia public libraries for digitizing their local history collections. Library staff members noticed that high school yearbooks made up the bulk of the scanning, but the libraries didn’t have a good way to make them available to the public—thus, an idea was born.

Since then LVA has coordinated the scanning of yearbooks from at least 44 public libraries and its own collections, and made them available online through the Internet Archive and the Lyrasis digitization collaborative. While most of the digitized yearbooks came from public library collections, some were donated or loaned for scanning by school alumni groups, historical societies, and individuals.

If you have a Virginia yearbook from Hopewell High School that we are missing, or from any High School in Dinwiddie or Prince George, please contact Jeanie Langford at 804-458-6329 ext. 2008 or [email protected].

To see other Virginia high school yearbooks, click here.

To see ARL’s collection of yearbooks,click here.