Back in the Days…: California Room Yearbook Collection

Each week, hundreds of families from across the state flocked to San Jose’s Lowrider Culture Exhibition. A significant portion of these pilgrims are former San Jose residents. Surprisingly, many are visiting the California Room and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library for the first time! Those returning to San Jose from across the state seem naturally drawn to our High School Yearbook collection. In these volumes, they can glimpse photos of family and friends from long (or not so long) ago.

Yearbooks are the type of item that sit on the shelf, or get put in a box in the closet indefinitely. The California Room has acquired the yearbooks in our collection via donations from community members. If you’re interested in donating your own yearbooks to the Library, please contact the California Room.

The California Room is the Public Library’s local and state history archive. All of the materials are for reference only, so if you want to see your yearbook, or any of our collections, they’ll always be here waiting for you.

Here are some high school and middle school yearbooks from the Santa Clara Valley over the decades: