Digital yearbooks
University of Delaware Library completes digitization of yearbooks
2:25 p.m., Oct. 28, 2011--The University of Delaware Library has announced the completion of the digitization of all UD yearbooks and now the exciting accessibility of those publications.
The yearbooks of the University of Delaware, in their various iterations, are accessible online at this website and also at this website.
Campus Stories
From graduates, faculty
Doctoral hooding
All yearbooks of the University, published under varied names, were scanned at a high resolution and are full-text searchable. A user can search online for a specific name, word or topic in each yearbook.
Yearbook history
During the years of 1834-1859 and 1870-1921 the University of Delaware was then named Delaware College. In 1921 it was renamed as the University of Delaware. It was an all-male institution through 1945. A separate Women’s College was founded in 1914. The two merged to become a co-educational institution in 1947.
The two digital collections contain an electronic reproduction of every yearbook published for both Delaware College and the Women’s College as well as the University of Delaware.
The oldest yearbook dates back to 1899 and was titled Aurora, and was first produced by the all-male Delaware College. The second yearbook was published four years later in 1903 with the title The Derelict. The University of Delaware yearbook was named the Blue Hen with its 1912 publication and the Blue Hen title of the yearbook was adopted and retained until 1999 when it ceased publication.
The yearbook of the Women’s College was Blue & Gold, with the exception of the first yearbook in 1918 that was published under the title The Chronicle. The Women’s College yearbooks were produced annually from 1918-1921, then biennially through 1945, ceasing when the two colleges merged in 1947 to become co-educational. The 1924 yearbook was titled Cheemaun, which means “Birch Canoe.”
“The digital collection of all yearbooks of the University of Delaware contains 75 yearbooks and the Blue & Gold contains 17 yearbooks. I think that alumni of the University of Delaware will greatly appreciate the ability to view the online version of the yearbooks to identify wonderful memories and warm reflections of their time at the University,” stated Susan Brynteson, vice provost and May Morris Director of Libraries.
The digitization project of the yearbooks of the University of Delaware was coordinated by Mary Durio, head of the Center for Digital Collections, under the leadership of Gregg Silvis, assistant director for Library Computing Systems. Some yearbooks not in the University of Delaware Library collection were loaned from University Archives and Alumni Relations.