School Annuals Are Social Historical Record

School annuals are a popular resource in the Local History Room at the Transylvania County Library.  Annuals offer an opportunity to reminisce but they can also be valuable historical reference material. 

Photographs of students and teachers show the popular fashions and hairstyles of the time period.  There is information and photographs about sports, athletes, and clubs.  Local businesses normally have advertisements in the back. 

Brevard High School published their first annual in 1944.  During the 1945-46 school year the 12^th grade was added to the school system.  For that reason there was not a graduating class in 1946 and Brevard High did not publish a school annual that year.  The Local History Room has a completed collection of all Brevard High annuals.

A page from the 1947 Rosman High annual showing
the faculty, members of the Senior Class play
and members of the Junior Class play.

Rosman High School’s first annual was published in 1948.  Although in 1947 a “homemade” annual was created.  As middle grades were moved to Rosman Middle and High School they were included in the school annuals as well.  For 8^th graders this was in the early 1970s, 7^th graders were added in 1977 and 6^th graders in the early 2000s.  The library collection includes 51 annuals for Rosman High & Middle School.

Brevard had its first Junior High School in 1960.  Originally it included 8^th and 9^th grades.  In 1966 9^th grade was transferred to the High School and 7^th grade added to the Junior High.  Annuals for 1961-1966, 1972 and 1973 are available.

During the 1974-75 school year they switched to a middle school system for grades 6-8.  Recent donations have added to the Brevard Middle School annual collection which now includes 23 volumes.

7th grade boys in the 1953 Quebec School annual.

The Quebec School produced an annual in 1953.   It included individual student pictures and photographs of activities.  There were two teachers and 44 students.  This annual has photographs and handwritten captions.  The student photographs only have first names beneath them.  Were annuals for Quebec or Lake Toxaway schools made in other years?

The elementary schools in Transylvania County have all produced annuals for many years as well.  The Local History Room collection includes various editions of these, including two volumes from Brevard Elementary, eight from Pisgah Forest Elementary and twelve each from Rosman Elementary and T.C. Henderson Elementary.

If you have copies of annuals from Transylvania County Schools that you would be willing to donate to help fill the gaps in our collection please contact Marcy.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.