INDIANAPOLIS — High school yearbooks from Lawrence Central, Southport and Perry Meridian High Schools are the latest additions to the growing collection of Indianapolis-related historic materials available for viewing on The Indianapolis Public Library’s Digital Indy website at digitalindy.org.
Thousands of images of class photos, clubs and athletic teams can be found in these full-text collections that join those from all 10 original Indianapolis Public Schools as well as Beech Grove, Ben Davis, North Central and Warren Central high schools on the Digital Indy site.
Yearbooks of Lawrence Central High School, known as The Bears’ Den, date to 1942. The school’s establishment in 1940 resulted from consolidation of schools in Castleton, Oaklandon and Lawrence. Yearbooks from Lawrence North High School, which opened in 1976 when Lawrence Township’s population outgrew its lone high school, are scheduled to be added to the Digital Indy site yet in 2017.
The first Southport yearbook, known as the Anchor, was published in 1925. The school was known as Perry Township Senior High School until 1967 and has remained in its current location at 971 East Banta Road since 1958. Notable alumni include former professional basketball player Louis Dampier, former major league baseball player Chuck Klein, actor Terry Lester, and local journalist Robin Miller.
Perry Meridian High School became the second high school in Perry Township, following Southport High School, when it opened in 1973. Its first yearbook, Passages, was produced in 1974. Among the school’s notable alumni are Lilly Endowment president Clay Robbins, Miss America candidate Claire Buffie, and women’s professional basketball player Katie Douglas.
IndyPL’s digital collections are of cultural and historic interest to residents, students and researchers, and allow for the long-term preservation of increasingly valuable and fragile original materials, many of which can be found in the Nina Mason Pulliam Indianapolis Special Collections Room at Central Library.
