Laurel Wreath for 1957

Here’s another yearbook to add to your collection:  the Laurel Wreath for 1957, from Lancaster Mennonite School in Lancaster, PA.  You can find it on our Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, page — just CLICK HERE.

One of our objectives at Between the Lakes Group is to provide varity in our republishing activities.  It’s our hope that by doing so we will encourage curiosity and historical investigation.  This yearbook is an example of our efforts in this direction.

While most people who purchase our yearbooks are either looking for relatives or remembering their own times in high school, this yearbook, as well as addressing those needs, will hopefully provide a window into Mennonite culture – one aspect of what is popularly called “Pennsylvania Dutch” – in Pennsylvania.  From our knowledge of this cultural and religious group we were a bit surprised to find that high school yearbooks were even issued!  Perhaps it comes as a surprise to you, too.

There are obvious differences between this 1957 yearbook and other yearbooks we’ve published of this vintage, and the most obvious is the pervasiveness of religion in what appear to be all aspects of school life.  For a religious school, that is likely not a surprise.  The fact that the entire yearbook is black and white – even the cover – seems, on consideration, predictable.  The senior photos, characterized by short hair for both boys and girls, modest attire (some girls wear head covering), are striking by comparison with those of other schools.  The limited range of activities – the preponderance associated with religion, and the lack of sports teams, are both notable.  It is a boarding school!  And this is the only yearbook we have ever republished that was actually indexed!

This is a document of a fascinating cultural and religious community.  We hope the Laurel Wreath for 1957 helps readers to understand it better.

Laurel Wreath for 1957

 

Replacing our CDs

Minisink and Port Jervis replacing our CDs

Replacing our CDs has shown up a benefit we hadn’t really anticipated.

Here’s what happens.  As our customers know, our CDs usually contained more than one item.  However, we tended to title the CD with the name of the most important (our call) item on the CD.

However, when we replace our CDs with downloads, each publication on the CD becomes a product unto itself.  In that way, it gets its own listing in our catalog and on the various geographic and special interest pages of our website.

Here’s an example.  Recently we retired our CD-ROM about the History of the Minisink Region of New York State (and Pennsylvania, and New Jersey).  The featured component of that CD was Stickney’s 1867 History of the Minisink Region.   However, there were two other publications on that CD:  Twin River Valley, the 1834 yearbook of Port Jervis High school, and a particularly scarce 1922 Directory of Port Jervis  (which included neighboring locations).

The CD never sold as well as we thought it would; we suspect the reason was that if people already had access to the Stickney book, they went no further and never discovered the Port Jervis Directory or the Port Jervis High School yearbook on the same CD.

Well, now that we’re reissued the three as individual downloads, we think more people will be seeing these additional publications — that were actually there all along.

Do you want to take a look at any of these?

Here’s how to find them:

Stickney’s History of the Minisink — click HERE

Twin River Valley, the Port Jervis High School yearbook — click HERE

That elusive 1922 Port Jervis Directory — click HERE

Of course, our main catalog is HERE, so why not have a look at it, too?

Bottom line:  we think that replacing our CDs will help you find things you never suspected we had just as much as it helps us streamline our processes and deliver quality content to you faster and more economically.