15Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Vermilion Parish Library
Abbeville, Louisiana
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Abbeville.
1928 to 2018Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
62,180Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Abbeville, Louisiana.
Get to know Abbeville, Louisiana in earlier years through yearbooks and annuals shared in the Vermilion Parish Library's digital archive. Its fifteen titles include material from 1928 to 2018.
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Selected titles
Vermilion Parish Library shares titles including “Delcambre Yearbooks” and “Abbeville High School”.
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Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
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A closer look
Yearbooks and annuals bring together the people and activities their editors chose to remember, offering a view of life within a particular year.
The pages of a yearbook or annual can connect individual lives with the activities and organizations that were part of their historical setting. A portrait, organization, or event can be a place to begin. Follow the year and page, then use another source to test a wider family or community connection. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse fifteen titles and 62,180 digitized pages, with material from 1928 to 2018. A partnership between Vermilion Parish Library and Advantage Archives makes this collection available. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
A familiar name or place can be the beginning of a story. Explore the titles below to see where that connection leads.
Abbeville High School
12,884 pages from 1941 to 1990
Delcambre Yearbooks
14,488 pages from 1950 to 2018
Erath Yearbooks
3,672 pages from 1980 to 2016
Gueydan Yearbook
11,612 pages from 1954 to 1989
Henry Yearbooks
3,120 pages from 1966 to 1981
Herod High School
292 pages in 1954
History of Vermilion Parish
2,256 pages from 1983 to 2003
JH Williams Yearbooks
112 pages in 1989
Kaplan Yearbook
4,140 pages from 1952 to 1974
Maurice Yearbooks
4,372 pages from 1952 to 1980
Meaux Yearbooks
176 pages in 1951
Memories of Kaplan Public Schools
120 pages in 1997
Mount Carmel Yearbooks
3,976 pages from 1928 to 1990
Pecan Island High School
128 pages in 1973
Vermilion Catholic School
832 pages from 1968 to 1975
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About the Library
About The Vermilion Parish Library
The Vermilion Parish Library serves the community by offering access to educational, recreational, and cultural resources. Established as a permanent institution in 1942, the library has grown to include multiple branches throughout the parish, each providing services like technology access, community programs, and a robust collection of books, digital materials, and historical documents. The library plays a key role in preserving the history of the parish, particularly through its extensive yearbook collections, which are a valuable resource for genealogical research, community history, and educational projects.
Library History
The History Of The Vermilion Parish Library
The Vermilion Parish Library was initially founded as a result of community efforts to establish a library that would serve all citizens. Beginning with the Abbeville Public Library in 1907, the library movement persisted through multiple closures and re-openings due to funding issues. In 1942, a permanent library system was established following the successful passage of a tax, and new branches were opened in towns like Kaplan and Gueydan. Today, the library system continues to thrive, offering modern resources alongside historical collections that reflect the rich cultural heritage of Vermilion Parish.
About the Community
About Vermilion Parish, Louisiana
Vermilion Parish, located in southern Louisiana, is a region steeped in Cajun culture and history. Known for its agricultural heritage, seafood industry, and coastal geography, the parish is home to vibrant communities like Abbeville, Kaplan, and Gueydan. The area's history is deeply tied to French settlers, and its unique cultural traditions continue to thrive today.
Local History
Did You Know?
Did you know that the Vermilion Parish Library’s Abbeville branch is housed in a building constructed in 1950 as Louisiana’s first public library funded by public tax dollars? This building also serves as a memorial to local veterans of World Wars I and II.
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Look beyond a name on the page
A name, class, or school activity connected with Abbeville can lead to other pages from the same period. The yearbooks and annuals shared by the Vermilion Parish Library can help you follow a student or organization beyond one entry. Captions, activities, and nearby pages may add context when present, while each volume offers only a view of school or community life at that time. Read the surrounding pages as well as an individual entry. Captions, activities, and organizations can provide context when they are present in the volume.
When a promising lead runs out, return to the titles and dates shown for the collection, where available. Try another spelling, name, place, or nearby period connected with your question. Keep searches that did not help alongside useful findings; gaps in historical coverage can limit what any search reveals.
As you piece together a story from the past, note where each detail came from and why it matters. Include the title, date, and page or item reference. Mark uncertain identifications and unanswered questions so a promising connection does not become an unsupported fact.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Vermilion Parish Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.
Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.
Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.
Learn about partnerships
Stories, research tips, and archive news
Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.
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It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?
We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
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