The Hope College yearbooks, Milestone, are now available online to view, print, or download. This past month, Van Wylen Library added the yearbooks to its institutional repository, Digital Commons. One of the oldest publications both in Holland and Hope College, the Milestone is an invaluable resource that documents the rich history of the school and city. Although the first Hope College yearbook was published in 1905, the yearbooks did not become an annual publication until 1916. The 1916 edition was also the first time the yearbook was titled Milestone.
Jointly funded by the Joint Archives and the Hope College Advancement Office, Van Wylen Library was able to send all of the yearbooks to a company in Grand Rapids to be professionally digitized. Years 1990-1999 and 1926-1948 were recently uploaded to the repository and are now available online. The repository allows users to explore the yearbooks in different ways. Users can search the yearbooks, download a copy, or use an embedded page flipper to “flip” through the yearbooks online and print specific pages.
The remaining years, with the exception of the last five due to publishing rights, will be available soon. Users can access and explore the yearbooks through the repository (all yearbooks are grouped under College Publications) at digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone.
— Christine Cho, Metadata Librarian