When our publications staff opened an unexpected package, we had no idea we were about to step back more than a century in time.
Inside the package was a 1917 Spring Hill yearbook — the very first official yearbook ever produced by the school. The book was sent to us by Jeff McKeegan from California who discovered it while going through a box of their grandfather’s belongings. Their grandfather, William Bailey Wilson, was born in 1904 and later moved to Spring Hill with their mother and their older brother, Jesse Lee.
Lee was a student at Spring Hill but tragically passed away just a year before they would have graduated. Within the pages of the 1917 annual, on page 18, there is a dedication honoring them — a small but powerful reminder of how even over 100 years ago, the yearbook served as a space to remember and celebrate the lives of students.
As a staff, we were immediately intrigued the moment we opened the package. Holding a book that is over 100 years old felt almost unreal. The feeling of the pages, the old-fashioned photos, and the simple design were very different from the yearbooks we make today. It was fascinating to see how much has changed — not just in style, but in our student body and school culture over the years.
At the same time, some things haven’t changed at all.
That 1917 yearbook captured moments and stories just like ours does today. It reminded me that a yearbook is more than just an annual publication — it is a time capsule. It preserves memories, honors people, and tells stories that can be rediscovered decades later by people who were never there.
This unexpected package was proof of that.
More than a century after it was created, the first Spring Hill yearbook found its way back to the very place it documented, connecting past and present in a way none of us could have anticipated. It’s a powerful reminder that the work we do now may one day mean just as much to someone in the future as this book meant to us.
We are deeply grateful to Jeff McKeegan for sending this book back to us!
