In the 100 years since William Hamilton Merritt set up his first mill, St. Catharines was on its fourth canal […]
Yearbook Flip – The Last Page
As 2020 draws to a close, this year’s final instalment of the Yearbook Flip series flips to the last pages of yearbooks in search of parting words and messages.
Beyond the stories told within their pages, yearbooks are also innate objects, each carrying a material history of their own. As an object, a yearbook is a fascinating material token of memory and nostalgia. To the yearbook’s owner, this object carries the weight of what this part of their life meant to them: the relationships made, the experiences had, the interests cultivated, and the paths chosen. Here, what matters are the bent pages and tattered covers, habitual signs of use; or the personalized markings with pen, pencil or marker, a result of our relentless impulse to leave a mark on the world.
Yearbook Flip – Battle for the Bands
Student music may not have had a dedicated page in the yearbook, but as the unsung hero at the foundation of school spirit, it is rather sprinkled across many pages. Music was central to student variety shows and plays, dances and formals, and sporting events. In yearbook snapshots where students are gathered together dancing or cheering or laughing, you can bet that there is music.
Yearbook Flip – Intro to Politics
With the U.S. Federal Elections approaching and looming large on seemingly every Canadian and American news outlet, we thought we’d […]
Yearbook Flip – High School Graduation
This year, due to the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the graduation ceremonies of the Class of 2020 in St. Catharines and beyond look very different. This change in tradition and ritual does not diminish the incredible accomplishments and exciting opportunities ahead for the Class of 2020. Rather, it marks the special resiliency of this graduating class. This is a moment to create new rituals and new markers to celebrate this cohort of young people who are already proving they have what it takes to make real progress and positive change for our future.
Yearbook Flip: High School Humour
One of the many things that makes old high school yearbooks such vibrant, lively archival materials is the humour found within their pages. Our yearbook collection dates back to 1913, and even the earliest yearbooks, which read more like student newspapers, have sprinklings of inside jokes, light quips, and satire. It is an encouraging reminder that the youthful spirit of teenagers spans across generations.
Yearbook Flip: High School Variety Shows
In the era of the Ed Sullivan Show, student variety shows were a staple production in high schools. Though variety shows first gained their popularity on the radio, live television brought a new immediacy and intimacy between the viewers at home and the stars on stage. As variety shows saturated pop culture, it was only natural for the sensation to make its way into the high school auditorium. Variety shows became a fun opportunity for teenagers to showcase their talents among their peers, and emulate the celebrities they adored on television.
Yearbook Flip: Festive School Spirit
Ho ho ho, Santa Claus is coming to….high school! As the holidays season gets into full swing and St. Catharines decks its halls, it’s always fun to look back and reminisce on holidays past – including the festive spirit that filled the halls of St. Catharines’ high schools in our youth. This time on Yearbook Flip, we’ll look back to the 1960s and consider how the baby boomer generation got into the holiday spirit in their high schools.
Yearbook Flip: Tourism and The Great Depression
While the 1930s is certainly characterized by The Great Depression, it also marked a move toward historical site reconstruction and the growth of heritage tourism. As historian Shannon Ricketts claims, it was the economic downturn that provided public works funding for serious conservation works. Depression relief funds granted by provincial agencies led to the restoration of various historic sites in Ontario; including Niagara.
Yearbook Flip: Girls Athletics
In reflecting on International Women’s Day last month, and the theme of #BalanceforBetter, I wanted to explore how female teenagers were represented in the sports pages of St. Catharines High School yearbooks. Due to traditional ideas of gender roles, athletics in North America have a long history of being male-centered and male-dominated. How did students work to address this imbalance in St. Catharines high schools in the twentieth century?
Yearbook Flip: The Revolutionary Sixties
How did teenagers in St. Catharines respond to the social and cultural revolution of the Sixties? Student yearbooks are a great way to explore how students reacted to the world around them.
“Ask Alicia” – Merritton High School
This week’s “Ask Alicia” will take us to Merritt Street in the mid 1930’s when Merritton High School was built. […]