UCR Library had a timely contribution to this year's Homecoming activities: UC Riverside yearbooks are now available online via Calisphere.

The yearbooks were prepared and digitized by staff of the Library’s Special Collections & University Archives, Preservation, and Metadata and Technical Services departments.

“UCR’s student yearbooks are a significant historical resource that provides the campus community with an important link to its past,” said Eric Milenkiewicz, Manuscripts Curator in Special Collections & University Archives. “Past, current, and future Highlanders will now be able to access this rich resource online in digital form to learn more about the people and history of UCR.”

UCR’s yearbook was titled “The Tartan” from 1954 to 1976, and “The Scotsman” from 1979 to 1992.

Milenkiewicz added, “The yearbooks capture campus life at UCR for nearly four decades, showcasing the growth and evolution of the campus from its beginning as a small liberal arts college to the large research university that it is today.”

Viewers might notice some significant gaps present between years. “Unfortunately, there is no official record of the yearbooks produced,” Milenkiewicz explained. He said that yearbooks may not have been published every year. It also appears that 1992 was the last year that a yearbook was released.

Alumni that would be interested in donating a yearbook are encouraged to contact Special Collections & University Archives. Milenkiewicz added, “While we would like an original print copy, we would be open to scanning and putting it online, if the donor wanted to hang on to the original.”

To date, Milenkiewicz has not seen a potential donation of yearbooks for any years the library does not already own. “Only time will tell if other yearbooks surface,” he said, “but for now we consider our holdings to be complete.”