 Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Tell me this guy is not George McFly from Back to the Future. And actually, the girl next to him looks a little bit like Marty McFly's mom. Time traveler's confirmed. Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. I am so glad to be back. Today we're gonna be going through a 1950s yearbook, and not just any 1950s yearbook, it is the 1950s yearbook. This is the first year of the 50s. And it is a yearbook from Gainesville High School. And it is from Gainesville, Georgia. So this yearbook is made out of a very sturdy cardboard, maybe, with a light layer of leather. And it's so funny, this is what it looks like with clothes. The mascot was a radiator, which isn't very common. Usually it's an animal or, you know, like a pirate or something, you know, not this. But it's really interesting and unique of its kind. Now the school does still exist, but their mascot now is called the Red Elephant. If you go to the school, make sure you comment down below. So on the first page, it says, with pleasure and pride. And you can see the picture of the school, which is so cool. And you can see a bunch of kids walking to school in their outfits. So here's what a few of the pages look like. You can see the page where the administration and faculty is, and a few people have signed it there. This is really cool here. They have an official motto, official flower, and official colors. So the motto is, yesterday's triumph is insignificant in the excitement of tomorrow's possibilities. And their flower is the American Beauty Rose. And their colors are green and silver. So when you open the page, the first thing you notice is the photos coming in, all of the senior photos, and little photos that they took while they were at school. And what I really want to show you guys is this speech right here, which is a little taste of what it was like for them to go to school. And you'd be surprised how similar their experience was to ours. It's a few lines, so I'm gonna go ahead and read it. Way back in 1939, we walked up the walk to our first day at school. Many of us were scared to death. The rest of us so excited we couldn't keep still. Now as seniors in 1950, we look back on those last 11 years as history already made, tell me about it. For seven years, we struggled through grammar school. Then that glorious day in September 46, we were freshmen in high school. To some of us, the building was not new. We had spent two of our grammar school years here, but to all of the teachers, classes, people, and routine were all new. For the first few days, we were lost and scared and had a senior spoken to us we would have dropped in our tracks. Well, we got through that year. Then we were sophomores and did we think we just about owned the place. Next came our junior year. By now, we were very much at home and settled in Gainesville High, but we had to work. Thanks to the teachers who were so patiently stuck it out with us and the junior store, and there's a continuation. We gave the senior a grand banquet. We stepped into the roles of seniors. However, we didn't remain calm for long. Before we knew it, along came the job of electing class officers. Then we started planning our class trip. We sold everything from newspapers to Christmas cards. Then came May 1950, the largest graduating class in the history of Gainesville High. Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Tell me this guy is not George McFly from Back to the Future. Oh, hey you, get your damn hands off her. Tell me I'm wrong. And actually the girl next to him looks a little bit like Marty McFly's mom. Freaking me out right now, time travelers confirmed. Now the one thing that's kind of strange that I've noticed in a few pages over is that they have a class prophecy and they pretty much tell you how you're going to, oh there it goes with thunder, perfect timing. It's telling you how you're going to die and it's not supposed to be serious, it's supposed to be a joke, but it's kind of strange to put that into the yearbook. So I'm gonna read you a couple of them. So one of them here says, Betsy Tucker blew her trumpet a little loud one morning and the teacher who was giving a test that period took care of her. And Bobby Ledbetter, who was making too much noise beating his drums. Another one here says, Dr. Fay and Nickerbocker, the famous surgeon made one grave mistake. She was operating on somebody but she cut herself open instead of her patient. It's a little bit morbid for a yearbook. So the next thing we're gonna look through is the superlatives. Now if you guys don't know what a superlative is, a superlative is a title that you're given in high school and usually the most popular people get the title because they're the most recognized and they get a title based on what they're the best at doing. Now I had a superlative in high school and my superlative was most likely to become a celebrity or most likely to do celebrity fashion, something like that. So that's the one I got. And here are some that they got. So the first person is most likely to succeed and the people who've got chosen for that is Nicky, Nickerbocker and Dub Jones. The next one is Most Intellectual and Mandy Joiner and Leroy Skinner got that title, this is them. The next superlative is Friendliest. Joanne Franklin and Bobby Grant got Friendliest, most popular, Sammy Willis and Marvin Free. Most talented, Nicky, Nickerbocker again and Bobby Ledbetter. The cutest, Frances West and Fred Culberson. Best looking, Joyce Paris and John Holsey. And usually, I knew it, I knew it. Some of them weren't in the radiator staff which means they made the yearbook which means they've chosen themselves for some of them. And so when you turn the page, then you start seeing the junior class which we're not really gonna go through because it's a senior yearbook. Now when you turn the page, then you're gonna start seeing the athletics teams and we're gonna start off with the cheerleaders. It's so cool how their outfits look. That's definitely not how we dress anymore. So it's always fun to see the change of uniforms and here are the football players. Now here's the basketball team. The women's sports team, there's women's basketball, there's the dance team, there's... Oh, over here is the baseball team. And then on this page, you just have the beta clubs, beta club, boys' G club, girls' G club. So these are a lot of little clubs that they've formed. Here's the Edison Science Club. And then at the very back are all of the sponsors who sponsored the school throughout the year which is so cool. I think that's my favorite part about looking at anything old like this when they have companies that don't exist anymore. That's really cool to see the company names and look up to see if they still exist too. And that is the end of the yearbook. So at the very end, I'm gonna read to you guys really quickly all of the signatures that Mary has gotten. And I love reading these kind of things because they're so personal and you get an insight of what Mary was like because usually these messages are a compliment. They're usually like written in a compliment format. So let's get started. First one says, dear Mary, you are one of my best friends and I hope you will be a good little girl while you are around M.H. I love you lots, Rufus. You're a good little girl, huh? They must have had a thing. Okay. The next one is, dear Mary, you are one of the sweetest and nicest girls I know and one of my best friends, lovejoy. Oh. This one says, dearest Reese, I wish you luck and best of wishes all through your life. Keep as sweet as you are now and you will do okay. Love June. Why am I getting emotional? This is so sweet. Dear Mary, this is to a very nice girl. I wish you the best of luck in future, Jane. The one in bluing says, dear Mary, best of all luck all your life. You have been a delightful home room pal all of 49 to 50, lovingly Margie J. There's one down here as well that says, and the final one up here in the corner says, Mary, remember the first, oh, hold on. Mary, remember at the first of last year, you know when we walked, sat in sixth period? Well, I ain't changed a bit. I don't think you have either. Love always napkin. Wait, that, that's so sweet. Oh, why am I, I don't know. I don't know where that came from, but I think it's because like, so we are all done with this yearbook. I was shocked to discover how similar our yearbooks still are. I expected it to be vastly different because of how old it is, but it's actually, if not almost identical to the yearbook format that we have today, which is really cool. There were two things that I've noticed that were very, very different. One was what I already mentioned, and it was the death jokes. I don't know if it was against the teachers or students, but the death jokes were a little strange for a yearbook. They must have had a difference as a humor back then. Another thing that I've noticed, and I don't know if you've noticed, but everyone in this yearbook was white, which was a little unsettling for me to realize after I finished it. And that's unsettling because I'm not only holding a piece of 1950s history, I'm holding a piece of its racist factor as well. In the year 1954, that is when integration in the school system began happening. And so you're not, like all the videos, pictures and yearbooks that you find with people of color. That was definitely after the year 1954. Before that it was only white people out at the school, which is a very heavy part of history. And I'm gonna branch off of that topic really quickly because I get this question a lot. And the question that I get is, can I indulge in history? Or can I get into or dress like a certain era if there was a really bad part of history involved in that era? And I get that question a lot, especially from my POC followers. And I'm gonna answer that in this video because I get it so often and I've never found the right time to kind of get into it. So I'm gonna quickly answer that question. And this is just my opinion. This is a very opinionated thing. No one can say for a fact if something's okay to do. But this is the way I see it and I believe it's a very healthy way to see it and a very fair way to see it. When you get into an era is to respect and to acknowledge what happened, the bad things that happened in that era and make sure to not romanticize the era like it was this picture perfect time. I get that a lot in the comment section as well that they'll romanticize the 50s. And I'm like, I know pop culture in the 50s was great. I know architecture was great, films were great. The entertainment world of the 1950s was great. But socially, politically, awful. And to pretend like that part doesn't exist is very dangerous and toxic and unfair to the people who suffered during those times. So if you truly respect an era, it is to respect all parts of it and to not romanticize or fantasize about the era. So that's something that I personally don't do. I don't fantasize to go back. If anything, the farthest I'll go back. If I were to get a little time machine right now and they said you can go to any era right now. I would go to the 80s or 90s. So it's definitely not the 50s. And I think it is totally acceptable to dress 50s, 60s, 70s. You can dress vintage very well. And it shouldn't be a problem because there are people in your culture who have made an amazing, amazing impact in the world of its time. There's people of color who've won Pulitzer Prizes and have became famous singers. And I think when I dress, in my head when I dress 50s, sometimes especially for this channel, I think about the women who were Hispanic, Puerto Rican and who have made great accomplishments being singers and dancers and entertainers and being involved in science and stuff like that. So I believe it's a way to represent them and to honor them and to honor the people who have made impacts in the world. And so I would say feel comfortable wearing vintage clothing because you're a reflection of the men and women who have accomplished wonderful, kind and respectful things. So that is my opinion on that. Remember the motto, vintage fashion, not vintage values. That is the motto I live by. A lot of the vintage community lives by that. So keep that in your mind. Vintage fashion, not vintage values. I hope I explained that well. I have a hard time explaining how I feel a lot of times, especially when it comes to opinions. So I hope that makes sense. But yeah, that's just something I wanted to touch base in this video because I never find the appropriate time to do it until now. So that is the yearbook video. Yay, okay. So thank you guys so much for watching. I really hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you guys wanna see more of my vintage collections, make sure you leave a comment down below. Make sure you like this video if you enjoyed it. And if you guys wanna see more vintage and princess content like this, make sure you subscribe and turn on the notification bell so I can see you in my next video.