Celebrating 175 Years: Emory University Yearbooks (1893-1962)

In celebration of Emory University's 175^th anniversary and the Libraries' committment to digital initiatives, the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library is featuring digital, full-text searchable editions of select Emory yearbooks, the Zodiac (1893 - 1901) and Campus (1911 - 1962).

Enjoy free, online access to these yearbooks simply by selecting a PDF. (see to the right)

A timeline of events captured by the Zodiac and Campus yearbooks

From their inception, Emory yearbooks highlighted student life and culture on the Emory campus. The annuals celebrated Emory students' academic and social lives and included membership rosters for campus societies and social clubs, photographs, songs, cheers, and chants.

1893: Students at Emory College founded the school’s first yearbook, the Zodiac.
1920s: Annuals from the 1920s highlighted Emory students' favorite female companions in the "Southern Beauties" section of the yearbooks.
1940s: Yearbooks from the early 1940s show an Emory student body mobilizing for World War II, while those from the latter years of the decade provide images of the many students who attended Emory with the support of the G.I. Bill.
1950s: A section was devoted to the Emory University “Queen” and her “Court,” and included stylized portraits of female students.
1960s: Concerns about the war in Vietnam and the general tumult and radicalism of the 1960s were reflected on the pages of the yearbooks from the sixties.
1970s: By the 1970s, the tradition of including the “Queen” or “Miss Emory” on the pages of Campus had ceased and the 1972 winner, male student Ira Luft, was not included in that year’s annual.
1979: Robert W. Woodruff’s generous gift of $105 million from the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Foundation to the University was celebrated in the yearbooks, along with the lyrics to a song proclaiming Emory as the Coca-Cola school.
1980s and 1990s: The yearbooks from these decades reflect an increasingly diverse Emory University student body and community engaged in transformative research, scholarship, and social action.
1999: The last Emory Campus yearbook was published.
2011: The 2011 Emory yearbook is revived as an online digital publication.