Thanks to a collaboration between Sullivan County BOCES and Monticello High School Librarian Stephanie Byrne, many MHS yearbooks from decades past are now digitalized and available for all to read online.
The former school library system director of Sullivan County BOCES, Lynn Miller, signed up SC BOCES and all Sullivan County schools with a consortia membership with the Southeastern New York Library Resources Council (SENYLRC). SENYLRC offers membership in Hudson River Valley Heritage digitization services. Liberty High School was the first school to sign up and take on their yearbook digitization project which was a remarkable success. When other Sullivan County school librarians were interested in digitizing their school yearbooks, Lynn Miller sponsored their membership so these treasured resources can be available to all.
Kathy Sawall at BOCES worked with Jennifer Palmentiero at SENYLRC to learn how to digitize the yearbooks and has been invaluable to get them scanned. High school librarian Stephanie Byrne began sending yearbooks to BOCES to be scanned before the summer of 2021 and throughout this current school year. The work is ongoing, with more yearbooks expected to be added as time progresses.
The digitalization of yearbooks gives a look back in the past. One can appreciate the rich history of a school in addition to being a fantastic genealogical resource for anyone looking into their family history. It is for these reasons, and more, that we are happy to share this link to the Monticello High School yearbook collection. For additional information or questions about this project please feel free to contact high school librarian, Stephanie Byrne at sbyrne@k12mcsd.net.