SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Maplewood Library’s collection of Columbia High School yearbooks is now available online at the library’s digital archive. The yearbooks date from 1915 to the present. All are available on the Internet, except for the latest 10 years, where access is restricted to the library buildings to protect the privacy of recent graduates.
This is a great opportunity for alumni, friends and relatives to re-live their high school years. The yearbooks are also a wonderful historical resource, offering fascinating insights into changing manners and styles over a century in the two towns. The yearbooks can be searched by year, or by name using the search option. The yearbook files are large, and may take several minutes to download.
The digitization of the yearbooks was funded by an Essex County Local History Grant and the bequest of Milena Pribramska. Maplewood Library’s digital archive was established in 2013 when the library digitized its 100-year collection of the News-Record of Maplewood & South Orange. This archive can be accessed from within either library building. The archive also contains the Maplewood Real Estate File, an extensive collection of historic photos and sales records of Maplewood homes, and can be accessed from any computer.
The Digital Archives can be found at www.maplewoodlibrary.org through the “About Maplewood” link.
There are a few gaps in the library’s collection. You can help build the archive if you happen to own any of the following CHS yearbooks: 1917, 1918, 1919, 1925, 1952 or 2002. If so, please consider loaning it to us; we’ll have it digitized and then return it to you. Contact Barbara Laub at the Library for more information at blaub@maplewoodlibrary.org or 973-762-1622.