# Why can't I find my H.S. yearbook online? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2007, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408 "2007-03-25T08:09:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/1 "2007-03-25T08:09:51Z")
Is it a copyright thing? Do the Classmates-kinda sites offer access for pay? I just wanna leaf through my old yearbook… ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/2 "2007-03-25T08:58:02Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Nader] Is it a copyright thing? Do the Classmates-kinda sites offer access for pay? I just wanna leaf through my old yearbook… [/QUOTE] Maybe you shoulda thought about that when you (presumably) threw it out. I know I still have mine. Seriously though, I would probably call the school, as there’s a chance they might have an archive. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/3 "2007-03-25T09:07:42Z")
Did you attend a Texas school? Here’s a site, they seem to be very old, but you might find something. They have other states as well. [http://www.old-yearbooks.com/tx/](http://www.old-yearbooks.com/tx/) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/4 "2007-03-25T15:59:24Z")
How old is your old yearbook? If it was assembled in the pre-computer days, I see no reason to expect it to be online. Aside from copyright issues (and maybe people not wanting the whole world to be able to see what they looked like as a pimply, braces-faced, decades-old-hairstyle-wearing teenager), someone would have had to scan in all those pages and possibly edit or format them, which could take a substantial amount of time, trouble, and storage space. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/5 "2007-03-25T16:27:41Z")
My guess is that most schools or alumni associations don’t have the technical resources to put yearbooks online. If they did yours they would have to do everone’s; that amounts to a lot of disk space especially considering that yearbooks are mostly pictorial. In addition I’ve heard there are possible legal issues mainly relating to people not wanting to be seen at that time in their lives, as was mentioned. This won’t help you much, but I think it’s fun to look at [these](http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Los_Angeles_HS/Archives/) yearbooks from L.A. High School, from over a century ago (click on Blue and White Annuals). ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/6 "2007-03-30T08:45:36Z")
I went to H.S. in Boulder, CO. I’m fairly sure they have the skillz and the gear @ my old school, so I suspect it’s the legal thing, alas and dammit. I know I should have saved those old yearbooks, but I left in a hurry with what I could carry. Great place to grow up in, hard to stay there afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/7 "2007-03-30T14:45:10Z")
If the yearbook was published before March 1, 1989, and did not bear a proper copyright notice, it is out of U.S. copyright and in the public domain. Anyone may place it online. If the yearbook was published before 1964 with a proper copyright notice, but its copyright was not renewed after 28 years, it is out of U.S. copyright and in the public domain. If the yearbook was published after March 1, 1989, it is under copyright for 95 years. [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) has an [online collection](http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=List&dbid=8943&offerid=0%3a7858%3a0) of old yearbooks, available to its subscribers. ---
**Author:** ![Palikia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@Palikia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palikia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/8 "2007-03-30T15:03:54Z")
I’m a subscriber to [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) so I just did a quick search for Darth (I’m his mom, I know his real name) and got no results. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/9 "2007-03-30T15:06:35Z")
There are actually some practical reasons not to scan old yearbooks. Most important are the logistical headaches of scanning in every page from every yearbook. Some schools have books dating back several decades. You’d also want to track down every alumnus who appears in the books for permission to post their picture. You’d also have to ensure you have enough people, scanners and server space, none of which is cheap. Second, most school photographers ain’t Annie Leibovitz, and most school pictures aren’t the greatest examples of portrait photography. Not all of these pictures will scan well enough to be presentable. Photoshop won’t fix everything. Third, and I know this is something that comes up in discussions about this sort of thing, there are privacy implications to posting old photos online. Not everyone wants to advertise how dorky they were in high school, particularly those whose careers rest on personal image. It’s bad enough most high schools keep archives, but the Internet would make these pictures accessible to anyone. There are also issues with people who have undergone gender reassignment or some other extensive plastic surgery – they may not want the “before” pictures posted online Finally, there are those people who just don’t want their photos posted on the Internet without their knowledge or permission. You can’t just assume that everyone wants their picture posted. If this is that important to you, why don’t you get an alumni petition going to ask the school to scan and post old yearbooks and offer to raise the money to pay for the project. See what kind of response you get. Robin ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/10 "2007-03-30T15:08:48Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] If the yearbook was published before March 1, 1989, and did not bear a proper copyright notice, it is out of U.S. copyright and in the public domain. Anyone may place it online. If the yearbook was published before 1964 with a proper copyright notice, but its copyright was not renewed after 28 years, it is out of U.S. copyright and in the public domain. If the yearbook was published after March 1, 1989, it is under copyright for 95 years. [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) has an [online collection](http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=List&dbid=8943&offerid=0%3a7858%3a0) of old yearbooks, available to its subscribers. [/QUOTE] Even if the yearbooks were properly copyrighted, there would be no issue with the school’s using it. Most yearbooks are considered “works for hire” in which students do the work for the school. The only hangup I could see copyright-wise is if the portrait photographer had a copyright on the individual student portraits. I’ll ask the yearbook adviser what she thinks. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/11 "2007-03-30T15:56:20Z")
[QUOTE=MsRobyn] You’d also want to track down every alumnus who appears in the books for permission to post their picture. [/QUOTE] Legally, this is not necessary. A published work is a published work. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/12 "2007-03-30T16:10:25Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Legally, this is not necessary. A published work is a published work. [/QUOTE] Legally, schmegally. An alumnus who has his feelings hurt by a photo that was posted without his permission or knowledge can legally sue the school, forcing the school to pay legal fees and possibly have to pay out on a settlement or a judgment. Better to ask permission than to beg forgiveness. You’ll note that I said “you’ll want to”, not “you’ll have to”. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/13 "2007-03-30T16:18:07Z")
Such a suit would be easily dismissed on motion of the defendant. There would be no grounds for it. Ask any lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/14 "2007-03-30T16:24:18Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Nader] I went to H.S. in Boulder, CO. I’m fairly sure they have the skillz and the gear @ my old school, so I suspect it’s the legal thing, alas and dammit. I know I should have saved those old yearbooks, but I left in a hurry with what I could carry. Great place to grow up in, hard to stay there afterwards. [/QUOTE] Did you go to Boulder High? I had a co-worker once who’d gone there; he told me they still had hitching posts in front of the main building. I looked up that school online once and it was rather interesting. Somewhere it said it was originally conceived to be a feeder school to the University of Colorado. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/15 "2007-03-30T16:48:03Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Such a suit would be easily dismissed on motion of the defendant. There would be no grounds for it. Ask any lawyer. [/QUOTE] I _have_ asked any lawyer. This is a common-enough issue in journalism that it’s taught in “any” communications-law course, and, at least in the course I took, the professor made it clear that, while it may not be _legally_ necessary, it is certainly the _ethical_ thing to do. And such a suit may very well be dismissed on motion of the defendant, but it costs money to get it to that point, money the school district may not have or wish to spend. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/16 "2007-03-30T17:00:20Z")
With regards to the points **MsRobyn** is making about permission from every person pictured in a yearbook, how does [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) get by with it? A quick check at their yearbook offerings shows many from the 1920’s thru the 1940’s, although I didn’t see any great lists of complete, sequential years. It was more like 1923 for one HS, 1947 for another. If 1989 is the cutoff year for copyright renewals, there doesn’t seem to be anything special about post-1947, so I can’t believe you can say that those on [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) are there just because they are old enough and 1975 isn’t. I didn’t want to pay to look at the actual images, so I don’t know if each yearbook is complete. But I have some yearbooks in my personal collection from my family’s HS and college years ca 1939 and 1960’s. I wouldn’t mind scanning those and posting them online just for kicks, but not if I’m going to be sued by the dork 3rd from the top on page 43. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/17 "2007-03-30T17:48:05Z")
I’m reasonably sure that [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) is relying on _Walloon_’s idea that once something has been published, it does not matter if the material is posted. Or they may not care, especially if they haven’t been sued. Also, this material is only available to paying subscribers, so there’s a pretty good chance that the dork on page 43 doesn’t even know his picture is on the site. As to the paucity of material, [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) asks people to voluntarily scan in their yearbooks and send them in. My point wasn’t about the legalities, anyway. Legally, you may be able to defend yourself against an invasion-of-privacy suit. From a practical and ethical standpoint, however, it’s better to just get permission from each person, or make each person aware that his yearbook photo may appear online. It’s just a CYA move. This kind of stuff is why photographers generally get a release from everyone they shoot. The photographer knows that he can’t be sued for invasion of privacy, or at least the plaintiff won’t prevail, but the release covers his butt in case someone does get upset and decides to sue. (See [this column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_152.html), and as of 2005, the answer hasn’t changed.) But that column was written in 1983, before the advent of the Internet. Although the answer itself hasn’t changed, some people have strong feelings about having their pictures posted online. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/18 "2007-03-31T03:14:58Z")
[QUOTE=MsRobyn] My point wasn’t about the legalities, anyway. Legally, you may be able to defend yourself against an invasion-of-privacy suit. From a practical and ethical standpoint, however, it’s better to just get permission from each person, or make each person aware that his yearbook photo may appear online. It’s just a CYA move. [/quote] Since the likelihood of my getting permission from each and every person who appeared in a yearbook 60 years ago is pretty slim, I don’t think I will attempt that. Besides, if they gave permission for their face to appear in the original book, and it was distributed to a few thousand people one time, posting it on the Internet isn’t much different in concept, just a wider distribution. And if I ever do this, it would be in context – the compete work – I’m not talking about extracting just one picture or page from the book. Just out of curiosity, I checked my 1926 and 1928 Harris Teacher’s College yearbooks, and there is no mention of a copyright. Same for a 1957 high school book. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/19 "2007-03-31T03:55:41Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] someone would have had to scan in all those pages and possibly edit or format them, which could take a substantial amount of time, trouble, and storage space. [/QUOTE] [Hello Googlebot!](http://books.google.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408/20 "2007-03-31T04:47:04Z")
[QUOTE=Palikia] I’m a subscriber to [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) so I just did a quick search for Darth (I’m his mom, I know his real name) and got no results. [/QUOTE] You didn’t really name him **Darth**? What kind of mom \*are \* you? 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-find-my-h-s-yearbook-online/397408.md?page=2)