Should I keep my mother's yearbooks, etc.?

[Tracysherm]

There are sellers on ebay who buy and sell old yearbooks. I was able to buy the yearbook of a distant cousin/war hero whom I had discovered via my family history research. I found out so much info on him, that I felt I knew him, but I didn't know what he looked like. Calculated that he must have graduated in 1939 or 1940, and found both years available for sale. The seller I used on ebay even looked in the book for me to make sure my cousin was there before I bought it (it was the 1940 one). I found his senior portrait, plus lots of other pictures of him in different high school organizations. It really put a face on this relative I'd discovered, plus I got to know more about him in his youth.

There may be someone out there researching an ancestor that was in your mother's class, and they'd be thrilled to find the yearbook.

I also saved my Grandmom's 1938 yearbook, and I had a little fantasy of starting a website where people would do look-ups for others in old yearbooks from their relatives. For example, if your grandfather happened to graduate from Haddon Heights High School in NJ in 1938, and you made a request, I'd scan everything about him that appears in my grandmom's yearbook and upload it for you. It's also interesting to see the things others wrote to my grandmom, and wouldn't it be cool if your grandfather signed her book, and I could show you what he wrote? Anyway, just a dream...

But yes, definitely save the yearbooks or sell them to someone who will re-sell them.

[MiamiRob]

Originally Posted by Knightly Knight

Respectfully, I would keep your moms year book, it's a part of your family history.

You are much kinder with your "words" of wisdom than I would have been! This is your parent and part of your history! Why would this person want to get rid of it?

[aneye4detail]

Originally Posted by MiamiRob

You are much kinder with your "words" of wisdom than I would have been! This is your parent and part of your history! Why would this person want to get rid of it?

Well then good for Knightly Knight!

[bjh]

This thread remnds me that a few years ago in a used book shop I found 3 WW2 military translation books that were a set. One was Italian, one German, one French. The books were evidently given to soldiers with the idea that neither the soldier, nor the military, knew which language each serviceman would ultimately encounter. Each book had useful phrases a soldier on the ground might need from whichever book represented the language where he was sent.

The French language book was written all over and had interesting notes and drawings. So that was where the guy who used them had been deployed. The edges were worn and darkened by his grubby hands in the midst of war. Someone must have cleaned out grandads things and brought them to the used book store to sell them. I bought them.

A complete stranger, I appreciated them more than whoever was related to the soldier and still have them.

[calispartan]

I would def keep it.