--- title: That’s My Yearbook description: “See if you can find your photo in Ancestry’s updated yearbook collection,” they said. “It will be fun,” they said . . . image: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/09-30-sophomore-300x195-1.jpg --- # [Vita Brevis A resource for family history from AmericanAncestors.org](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # That’s My Yearbook [September 30, 2019](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/09/thats-my-yearbook) [Photographs](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/photographs), [Technology](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/technology), [Serendipity](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/serendipity), [Research Methods](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-methods) [Rhonda McClure](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/rmcclure) [![](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/09-30-sophomore-300x195-1.jpg?width=300&height=195&name=09-30-sophomore-300x195-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/09-30-sophomore-1.jpg)“See if you can find your photo in Ancestry’s updated yearbook collection,” they said. “It will be fun,” they said. Every day as August began to wind down, there was someone on my Facebook timeline who was sharing their school photo as found in [Ancestry’s U.S. School Yearbooks, 1900–1999 database](https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/yearbooksindex/). I resisted for a number of days. But let’s face it, as a genealogist, I couldn’t resist the search for too long! So, on August 29, I finally gave in and did a search for my name. My maiden name was mangled all through my school years, so I put in my first name and then the beginning of my last name with a wildcard. It was a good thing I did, because sure enough my last name was wrong on Ancestry. Not surprising mine was the only entry that appeared in the search—and it was just for my sophomore year. A familiar face stared back at me from the entry and I went to view the full image in the yearbook. As I zoomed into the photo on the yearbook page, I noticed that there had been a “correction” written above my surname. More intriguing, the handwriting looked quite familiar. ### Could this actually be my yearbook? I went to the front of the volume and sure enough in the upper left corner of the inside of the cover I found: *Rhonda Standerfer 5/17/79 Sophomore year*. Clearly, I wasn’t a genealogist yet, based on the way I wrote the date, but hey, I was only 15 years old. [![](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/09-30-yearbook-300x169-1.jpg?width=334&height=188&name=09-30-yearbook-300x169-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/09-30-yearbook-1.jpg)Seeing the inside front cover with its RESERVED sign brought back so many memories. That was my first year in Florida and I knew I was going to be returning to New Hampshire for the summer, and I wanted my friends back in Goffstown to use the front and back cover spaces. ### So how did Ancestry get my yearbook? I honestly don’t know. When I moved from Florida to Boston, I had to put many things in storage. And unfortunately, much of the stored items never made it to Boston (long story). What was even more amazing about finding this on Ancestry was that as others had been sharing their photos, I had been thinking about the loss of the written messages in my yearbooks. When I posted my photo find on Facebook, I did get a giggle over also sharing that I had found my actual yearbook. And though my name doesn’t come up more than once, Ancestry actually has at least four of my yearbooks online. ### Share this: - [mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/09/thats-my-yearbook](mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/09/thats-my-yearbook) - - - More - - ![Rhonda McClure](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Rhonda_McClure.jpg) ## About Rhonda McClure Rhonda R. McClure, Senior Genealogist, is a nationally recognized professional genealogist and lecturer. Before joining American Ancestors in 2006, she ran her own genealogical business for 18 years. She was a contributing editor for Heritage Quest Magazine, Biography magazine and was a contributor to The History Channel Magazine and American History Magazine. In addition to numerous articles, she is the author of twelve books including the award-winning The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Genealogy, Finding your Famous and Infamous Ancestors and Digitizing Your Family History. She is the editor of the 6th edition of the Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research, available in our bookstore. When she isn’t researching and writing about family history, she spends her time writing about ice hockey, covering collegiate to NHL teams and a couple of international teams. Her work has allowed her the privilege of attending and covering the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Korea and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Areas of expertise: Immigration and naturalization, late 19th and early 20th century urban research, missionaries (primarily in association with the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions), State Department Federal records, New England, Mid-West, Southern, German, Italian, Scottish, Irish, French Canadian, and New Brunswick research as well as Internet research, genealogical software and online trees (FTM, RootsMagic, Reunion, AncesTrees, etc.), digital peripherals, and uses both Mac and Windows machines.[View all posts by Rhonda McClure →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/rmcclure) [← Top 10 published resources](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/10/top-10-published-resources) [Timeless and Timebound: High Holiday Sermons as Historical Documents →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/09/timeless-and-timebound-high-holiday-sermons-as-historical-documents) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. ### Recent Posts [Sailor Bill and His Forgotten Wife](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/sailor-bill-and-his-forgotten-wife) [Professor X](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/professor-x) [Part I: Malaga Island, Maine](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/part-i-malaga-island-maine) [The Norwegian folge](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/the-norwegian-folge) [Research…in a Miniskirt? 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