Hey there friends!

Whelp, it’s still super hot in NW Arkansas. 🔥 But life goes on and I know this won’t last forever. Next thing we know, it will be a beautiful, crisp autumn day.

I’ve got another fun “thread puller” for you this week. I’ve talked before here about my intentions to scan the pages from my high school and college yearbooks to preserve special memories. After that, if my family wants to chunk them in the trash after I’m gone they are welcome to!

You might even have one or two of your parents’ high school or college yearbooks around, too. My mom and I were delighted to find and buy “The Razorback 1946.” Dad is shown in there as a very young looking freshman. He only attend the U of A for 1 year before changing schools, so this was a very special find for us.

You can read more about pulling the threads of family stories using school yearbooks below.

Happy thread pulling and happy almost weekend. And stay cool!

BEHIND THE SCENES THIS WEEK​
​Threads of family stories hidden in school yearbooks

If you are curious about what your parents were up to when they were in high school and/or college, a good thread to pull is to locate a physical or digital copy of their class yearbook.

I was delighted to discover this summer during a visit to my hometown library that they have several shelves of my alma mater’s yearbooks. My daughter was with me, so we looked at my sister’s yearbook from her senior year to see her class photo as well as her majorette and band photos.

I didn’t pay attention to how far back their collection goes, but visiting the library in the town where your parents went to high school is a good start. Just a few minutes with those books and you could snap some photos and also possibly discover that they were involved in an activity or club. Who knew your Dad was in FFA? He might have never mentioned it.

If you don’t find what you are looking for in the town or county library, you could also visit the school library with permission from the school office. I saw on social media the other day that one of my former classmates was attempting to fill in some gaps in our high school’s yearbook collection by asking people to contribute those missing books if possible.

For digital access, Ancestry.com has just opened up access to a collection of high school and college yearbooks. Of course, that requires a paid subscription.

For free access to yearbooks, a site called The Ancestor Hunt has made available a searchable listing of states and cities. You can find that here. Heads up that you’ll probably get a browser pop-up asking you to subscribe to their newsletter. Just click the black X in the upper right corner to make it go away if you’re not interested and then get on with your searching. Scroll on down the page to see all of the state listings.

Of course, not all high schools, colleges and universities have been able to digitize their yearbooks. But it’s worth a try to find them if you are curious. Using The Ancestor Hunt links, I was able to locate the University of Arkansas collection of digitized yearbooks, including the one I mentioned before with the photo of my dad.

If you are an Arkansan who grew up loving Razorback football like I did, you might enjoy looking through some of these. Here’s the link to the Razorback yearbooks.

Remember that high school and college yearbooks aren’t just individual class photos - they are also filled with photos of clubs, sports, performing groups and more. Since I live in Fayetteville, I have really enjoyed looking at the ads in the back of the book from local businesses to see which current ones were already established in 1946.

For the schools not listed by The Ancestor Hunt or available (via subscription) through Ancestry.com, you can do a little research on your own. I’m trying to find my mother’s yearbooks from her college years, but after searching the college website, I think the only way to access them is in person at the college’s library. Maybe a road trip in the future?

Happy thread pulling!

INTENTIONAL HOME - Decluttering & Curating Memories

FREE - CURATING YOUR READING

I finally got around to creating a Reading Log spreadsheet to keep track of what I’ve already read. I have a page in my Apple Notes where I started listing books years ago, but I haven’t kept up with it.

I added the current audio book I’m listening to in my own copy so that you can get an idea of how it works.

I’m giving away the Books I've Read - Reading Log until I get it set up in my shop, so please use this link to download a document that has instructions and links to both the Excel desktop version and the Google Sheets online version.

Note: The document will say "purchase" because I'll be using it in the shop. But for you - this is totally FREE! Happy first day of Spring. 🌸

​​​Reading Log Access Document.pdf​

SHOP

Legacy Library Insert Cards Printable Floral Collection No. 1 Visit Shop

Legacy Library Insert Cards Printable Books Collection Visit Shop

RESOURCES FOR ART & HEALING

Renée Fleming - “Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness” - Amazon​

Susan Magsamen - “Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us” - Amazon​

RESOURCES & SUPPORT

​My choice for a NOK box​

​Affordable thumb drives​

​theNOKbox.com​

​Help for using phone notes apps​

FREE DOWNLOADS

• ​Download Free Scanned Photo Log Spreadsheet (available in both Google Sheet and Excel)
• ​Download Free Ebook - “The Big 5: Family Stories You Need To Preserve For Future Generations”
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I'd love to have you follow my social feeds. I promise to not be boring but will most likely be cheesy now and again. 😉