It's that time of year again!

Yes, spring is in the air. Flowers are blooming and countless college seniors are making plans for the future. As graduation season is upon us, students engage in the age-old tradition of decorating their caps and parents hurriedly buy up every available copy of Dr. Seuss’s Oh! The Places You’ll Go, yet nowadays there is one historic ritual that has gone the way of the past - the college yearbook.

The tradition of publishing college yearbooks has been in steady decline since the 1990’s. Some blame the onset of the Internet and the ubiquitous nature of social media like Instagram and Twitter. Some cite the high price of the bound volumes themselves, and others claim that a big impersonal book simply isn’t what students want anymore. For whatever reason, San Diego State University last published its yearbook Del Sudoeste in 1984. This means that the yearbook at SDSU is now history… literally! At SDSU, Special Collections and University Archives embraces the spirit of tradition and honors the school’s connection to the past. SCUA “houses rare, fine, unique, and valuable books, periodicals, manuscripts, and documents which require preservation, security and care in handling”, and this collection includes SDSU yearbooks starting from 1902 in print and digital format. The yearbook is most commonly known as Del Sudoeste but was initially called White & Gold, reflecting the school's original colors, and later became known as SDSU Reflections and SDSU Horizons.

While students these days are more likely to text or tweet their congratulations than to sign a classmate's yearbook, the shared experiences and treasured memories created at San Diego State University today are just as meaningful and just as timeless as ever.  

Click on the links below to find the locations of yearbooks both in SCUA and in the main bookstacks of the Library and to access the digital collections. 

SCUA > Digital Resources > SDSU Yearbooks

San Diego State Yearbooks Digital Collections 1902 - 1984

Del Sudoeste

San Diego State University Senior Yearbook 1977-1979

San Diego State University Reflections: Class of 1980

San Diego State University Horizons: Class of 1981

Questions? Contact the Research Desk at eref@sdsu.edu or Special Collections & University Archives at askscua@sdsu.edu. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Image Citation: R Owens. (2013, September 9). Making the Case for Public Schools, the Highest-Stakes Poker Game Around. [web log image]. Retrieved from https://rudyowensblog.com/tag/university-city-high-school/