The FRHS maintains a large collection of Fall River high school memorabilia – public and parochial – including ever-popular yearbooks, made available to researchers visiting the Charlton Library of Fall River History.
In fact, they are used by patrons much more often than one would think, especially by people looking for photographs of various individuals.
Among them is a nearly complete set of B.M.C. Durfee High School yearbooks, beginning with the first Durfee Record, published in 1912. There are a few gaps in the collection – now one less, thanks to the recent donation of a 1948 Durfee yearbook, just sent to the FRHS from Easley, South Carolina.
Along with it was a Durfee pennant, circa 1947. It is made from heavy wool felt, and has survived in a fine state of preservation, with minimal damage – insect or otherwise – remarkable considering it spent decades stapled to a garage wall; staples were still in place when it arrived.
In order to complete the Durfee Record collection, the FRHS is currently seeking to acquire the following editions: 1913; 1914; 1920; 1941; 1943; 1951; 1952; 1953; 1954; and 1976.
If anyone has any of them, or knows someone who does – and is willing to part with them – please let me know.
There were several parochial high schools in Fall River, and those yearbooks are also represented in the FRHS collections, albeit with several gaps.
For example, whereas the FRHS has a nearly complete set of the Dominican Academy’s Dominilogue, there is, surprisingly, only one yearbook from Bishop Connolly High School, Opus 70– the first edition, published in 1970.
The collection contains copies of Echo, Juana, Mercycrest, Prevost, Distaff, and Artisan, and others with similarly florid titles, all published by graduating classes in Fall River … but gaps remain.
The FRHS library holds the largest and most significant collection of archival material pertaining to the history of Fall River extant, and fortunately, it is ever-growing. Yearbooks – mundane publications to some – are important historical records and should not be overlooked.
If anyone has yearbooks languishing on shelves or stored in attics – or worse yet, damp basements – that are not represented in the FRHS collection, we would be happy to take them off your hands.
Of course many people are loathe to part with them – sentimental attachments to their high school days, I suppose. Perfectly understood.
But what better way to preserve those memories and class history?
A donation to the FRHS ensures that the legacy remains, and is perpetuated by sharing it with others.
Food for thought, that.
As always, much appreciated.
