This story is from Mary McKinley, who operates the Sherman Room at the Mansfield Richland County Public Library. The Sherman Room is a treasure trove of local historical content. For more of Mary’s posts, blogs, and content, be sure to check out this link.
It has been an ongoing project of the Sherman Room to digitize and make accessible the Mansfield Senior High School yearbooks in our collection, up to the year 2000. We are delighted to announce that we have completed the work.
From 1907 to 2000, with a few exceptions, the Mansfield Senior High School yearbooks are now available online here: https://shermanroom.omeka.net/yearbooks
We need your help to eliminate those exceptions. We do not have Mansfield Senior yearbooks from 1975, 1976, and 1978. We also need Mansfield Senior yearbooks from 1973, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1991 to scan, because our copies from those years were too damaged to scan.
If you have a Mansfield Senior High School yearbook from one of these years and are willing to donate it or loan it to the Sherman Room to allow us to scan it, please contact us at 419-521-3115 or at genealogy@mrcpl.org.
If you have family history of your own you are interested in digitizing, check out the Family History Digitization workshops this winter on our event calendar! Register here.
We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone who has donated yearbooks and other materials to the Sherman Room. Your generosity allows us to preserve our community history and keep it alive and open to all.
Mansfield Senior High School
Mansfield Senior was at West Fourth and Bowman until around 1928, when a new building was built at West Park Boulevard. The building at West Fourth and Bowman was then used to house John Simpson Junior High School. The inaugural yearbook in 1907 has several photographs of the building available to view at The Sherman Room of the Mansfield Richland County Public Library.
Yearbook Names Over the Years
The earliest Mansfield Senior High yearbook in our collection is from 1907, and in that first year the yearbook was called “The Oracle.” From 1908 to 1923, the default yearbook name was simply the “Annual,” with a couple of years having special names.
In particular, in 1917, the yearbook was called the “Red and White,” as a patriotic reference to America’s involvement in World War I and the young men who went to fight. Likewise, in 1919, the yearbook was called “La Victoire,” in honor of the victory in World War I.
It was not until 1924 that the yearbook gained its own unique name that continued on through the years: Manhigan. The inaugural Manhigan explained the unusual name as a shorthand for “Mansfield High Annual.”
Interesting Tidbits
There are some interesting bits of history in the Manhigans! Find just a few to explore here, and then go exploring the others and let us know what interesting history you are able to discover!
The 1918 Annual had an honor roll of those young men who had served in World War I. In particular, note Louis Brumfield (later he changed the spelling to Bromfield), serving in France, in the class of 1914.
The 1929 Manhigan was airplane-themed in honor of the opening of the Mansfield Municipal Airport, and the flyleaf featured a note from one Amelia Earhart.
Other School Materials Available
In addition to the Mansfield Senior High yearbooks, there are other materials available digitally through the Sherman Room archives (and even more available in person in the Sherman Room!).
In particular, one such resource is our collection of student newspapers. Although they did not contain as many photographs as the yearbooks, the student newspapers show much of the humor and interaction of the classes and a more frequent and casual insight into the day-to-day life at Mansfield Senior High. Take, for instance, these few tidbits from the Moccasin, an early newspaper at Mansfield Senior High School.
Other schools for which we have newspapers include Johnny Appleseed, John Simpson, Malabar High School, and St. Peter’s High School.
One example of the St. Peter’s High School, the Key, features local Sherrod Brown during his time as State Representative. Find the full listing of newspapers available, and which are available online, here:
https://shermanroom.omeka.net/schoolnews
We also have Class Day and Commencement programs from Mansfield Senior High School as early as 1867 available through the digital archives. Explore the commencement programs here!
