The Library of Michigan wants your yearbooks. How to donate.

The Library of Michigan asks Residents to donate their yearbooks. It is part of a project to build a comprehensive collection of high schools, colleges, universities and vocational schools in Michigan.

Yearbooks preserve more than just a school’s history, said Adam Oster, community engagement librarian at the Library of Michigan.

“This is also a great snapshot of communities across Michigan,” he said. “Each yearbook has its own identity, and it also takes into account aspects of the community as a whole.”

Yearbooks are great primary sources for researching genealogy or local businesses, he said. They are particularly helpful when researching veterans of World War I or World War II.

“These yearbooks may be one of the few places where you can find a picture of a soldier before he went into a combat zone and maybe didn’t come back,” Oster said.

The library not only wants to preserve the country’s history, but also make it more accessible. Ideally, Oster said, the library would receive two copies of each yearbook – one to remain in the library and one that can be shared via interlibrary loan.

This allows residents who want to research or cannot afford their own yearbooks (or have lost them) to access them for free.

“It’s all about increasing access to some really cool resources while preserving them for the next generations that come after us,” Oster said.

You can check which yearbooks the library already has in its collection catalog – but Oster warned that it may not be up to date as donations can take time to process. It is best to contact the library before making a donation.

You can reach the State Library at (517) 335-1477 or by email at [email protected]. Learn more about the donation process Here.

“This is an opportunity to create an incredibly unique collection that everyone in our state can have access to,” Oster said. “And so much of it will help preserve and make accessible Michigan history.”