A Century of Columbia High School, One Yearbook at a Time

Nancy Janow couldn't wait to unwrap the package that arrived on her Wyoming Avenue doorstep Monday morning. Inside, she knew, was the 1924 edition of The Mirror, the Columbia High School yearbook. Janow recently won an eBay auction for the yearbook, paying $15 plus shipping to call it her own. It is the latest addition to her collection of more than 50 CHS yearbooks that fill the sitting room in her home. The earliest dates back to 1915, the most recent is from 2003, the year her daughter graduated.

Janow started the collection about 15 years ago, out of sheer curiosity. Today, she and her husband, Richard, call it an "endless source of fun and amusement." The joy it brings them is obvious as they flip through one after the next, laughing over hairstyles and messages written to friends, commenting on names and academic offerings.

"I love South Orange. We moved here 25 years ago, and I started collecting memorabilia," she recalls. "It was right around the time that eBay was getting popular, and I went on, typed in South Orange, and started by collecting postcards."

Janow moved on to yearbooks when she realized that many South Orange residents were already collecting the postcards. She has acquired them from yard sales, on eBay, and from a retired CHS teacher.

"I love the old ones," she says, "because they show how much the town has changed. You can watch the demographics change, ethnically, economically and in terms of size."

Most residents know Janow as the friendly face greeting them as they check books out from the SOPL. From time to time, she surprises them by saying she has just seen their high school yearbook photo.

"That's my favorite thing to do," she says. "When I get a new yearbook, I look for people that I've seen around town, for library patrons. There isn't one book that I haven't found recognized someone in, as long as they're younger than 80 or so."

The shelves and coffee tables in the sitting room at the Janow home are practically overflowing with the books, along with a few middle and elementary school yearbooks that have somehow made their way in over the years. They have the senior yearbooks of famous CHS graduates Lauren Hill, Elizabeth Psush, and Max Weinberg Those of the Braff brothers are missing, but their younger years are there.

She has yet to add most of the 2000s, because she is disappointed with how boring yearbooks have become. Personal messages and aspirations listed below senior photographs are no longer included. In the 1950s, the books even included addresses.

"I looked at the 2010 yearbook and thought, 'This will be so boring to look at in 50 years,'" she says.

Despite the differences between the graduating classes of 1915 and 2010, Janow says she notices one common thread throughout the decades.

"Even with all the changes, there are more similarities than you'd expect. In the end, it's all about a group of 17-year-olds excited about going on to the next stage of their lives."

Nancy Janow is happy to share her enthusiasm and eager to complete her collection. She owns at least one yearbook from each of the following years. If you have a missing yearbook, or know of a source, please let her know by commenting below or emailing Patch at marciaw@patch.com

SOJH: 1961

SOMS: 1995 - 1999

MMS: 1993

CHS: 1915,  1924, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1939, 1940-1945, 1949, 1951, 1956 1959, 1960, 1962, 1970, 1974, 1976-1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1990-1991, 2002, 2003