Overview
A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually. A yearbook often has an overarching theme that is present throughout the entire book.
Many high schools, colleges, elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks; however, many schools are dropping yearbooks or decreasing page counts given social media alternatives to a mass-produced physical photographically-oriented record. From 1995 to 2013, the number of U.S. college yearbooks dropped from roughly 2,400 to 1,000.
History
A marble slab commemorating a class of military cadets in Ancient Athens during the time of the Roman Empire is an early example of this sort of document. Proto-yearbooks in the form of scrapbooks appeared in US East Coast schools towards the end of the 17th century. The first formal modern yearbook was the 1806 Profiles of Part of the Class Graduated at Yale College.
Yearbooks by country
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