How to Find Yearbooks

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: February 19, 2023

A yearbook is a great time capsule of memories and experiences from your school days. Finding your old school yearbook can help you connect with your former classmates and allow you to parse through the pages for sentimental value. To find yearbooks, you can contact your former school or classmates. You can also look for a digital copy of the yearbook using an online search tool.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Contacting the School or Former Classmates

1
Reach out to the school’s media center. The media center at the high school is usually in charge of keeping copies of previous yearbooks. Look for a contact number for the media center at the school online or call the front desk at the school and ask to be connected to the media center department.
- The media center is often run by students under the supervision of a teacher. You may need to speak to the supervising teacher to ask for the yearbooks you are looking for.
- You can also visit the school's library to ask them to refer you to the media center or to help you find the yearbooks.
2
Contact the school’s yearbook advisor. Some schools have a yearbook club that is run by an advisor or an editor. You can contact the school and ask to speak with the yearbook advisor so you can request the yearbooks you are looking for.
- You may not be able to take a physical copy of the yearbook but the advisor may send you a photocopy or a photograph of any specific pages you are looking for.
- Some schools will digitize their yearbooks, including past yearbooks. Ask the yearbook advisor if you are able to access the yearbook through the school’s digital archives.
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3
Talk to former classmates to see if they still have their yearbooks. If you are seeking out physical copies of the yearbook, you can try contacting former classmates you may still keep in touch with to see if they have a copy you can look at.
- If you do not keep in touch with former classmates, you can try searching for their contact information online or through mutual friends so you can reach out to them.
- You can also search for a Facebook page or other social media pages for your school that includes your former classmates.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using an Online Search Tool

1
Use an online yearbook finder tool. Online services like YearbookFinder.com, Classmates.com, Yearbook.org, and e-Yearbooks.com allow you to search their archives for physical scans of yearbooks as well as photographs, dates, and names in the yearbooks. These tools are easy to use and access online.^{[1]
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- Most of these tools are free to access or require a small subscription fee to use.
- These sites mostly list high school yearbook information, but you can try to search for junior high or college yearbooks as well through the sites.
2
Create an account and enter basic personal information to search for yearbooks. To search the digital archives on the tool, you will first need to create an account on the site by providing your name and email address. If there is a subscription fee to use the tool, you will need to provide payment information like a credit card to finish setting up your account.
- Most online tools cost no more than $20-$30 USD for 1 year access.
3
Search for people and images in the yearbook with the tool. If you are looking for a particular person in the yearbook, you can search their full name, as it appears in the yearbook, using the search tool. You can also look at images, dates, and class lists in the yearbook by downloading a digitized copy of it through the search tool.^{[2]
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- Though you will not be able to access a physical copy of the yearbook, you can browse through the digital copy and look up any images or people that way.