ENMU digitizes yearbooks spanning 73 years

Eastern New Mexico University's Golden Library has digitized its collection of Silver Packs, the university's yearbooks – 73 years worth.

That means they can all be read online, and access is free.

"We first got quotes for scanning materials about three years ago. However, the original scope of the project was too large," said Regina Bouley Sweeten, Archives and Special Collections librarian.

So the project was broken up into two projects: Silver Packs and The Chase (university newspaper), Sweeten said.

The Chase is the university's newspaper. Sweeten said ENMU's Business Affairs is funding digitizing of The Chase, which is ongoing. ENMU Foundation Board of Directors allocated funds for the scanning of the Silver Packs.

The Silver Pack digitization and shipping cost just over $8,000.

The university yearbook was first published in 1935 as the Annualette, according to an ENMU news release. It became the Silver Pack in 1936. The final year of publication was 2008.

Sweeten said ENMU alumni and their families will treasure photos of their times as a student, while community members may remember visiting certain musical guests or homecoming parades. All while current students will enjoy seeing the changes in the buildings on campus over the years.

"A personal favorite of mine is page 89 of the 1965 Silver Pack, which shows the original lobby of the (Campus Union Building) -so much blue," Sweeten said. "An aspect of yearbooks that some people may gloss over is the advertisements in the back, which really give insight into community development over the decades."

Sweeten said other digitized projects at ENMU include interviews for the Eastern New Mexico Oral History Project and a portion of the Master's theses. She said about 40% of the theses have been scanned so far, and newly completed theses are submitted digitally to be directly uploaded.

"So many times people contact me with questions that can be answered with either the yearbooks or student newspapers, and they must have me do the research since they are unable to come in physically," Sweeten said.

Having these publications will now allow people to direct their own searches while also taking a stroll down memory lane.

Hard copies of the Silver Pack are also available at the Golden Student Success Center.