School annuals provide a snapshot in
time about a community. We were fortunate in Pacolet to
have two high schools that published annuals. Over time, I
hope to be able to scan and put copies of these annuals on
this website. Pacolet High School published their first
annual in 1949 and continued up until its close in 1976. I
either own or have access to most of these annuals.
All of the annuals are are presented in the PDF format
that will allow you to zoom in close to see better
detail and also allow you to print any or all of the
pages.
Pacolet High School Annuals
1949 - Pacolet High
School published their first annual in 1949 and named it The
Tomahawk. This book can now be read at 1949 PHS Tomahawk
Annual. There are several things
different in this annual than in later books. It is not
printed on both pages, only on the right side. The left
page is blank. An unusual thing about this book also is
that the pages that separate and label the classes and
section are in a bright, full color. Printing in color was
expensive and most later annuals were all in black and
white. Much of the labeling and student and faculty
identification in this book is done freehand in ink
and is not typed or typeset. Later annuals contained
little freehand lettering.
This book is now 68 years old. Surviving members of
that senior class are now in their mid 80's. Pacolet High
School in 1949 had 12 grades from the first grade
up. Elementary class teachers are pictured but not
their classes. Students from the 7th grade through the
12th grade are shown. In 1949, I was in the 6th grade and
remember a great deal about the school as it was then. In
some areas there have been tremendous changes compared to
today's schools. You can read about some of these at
School Changes.
There have also been very big changes in the businesses in
Pacolet since 1949. Looking at the advertisements at the
end of the annual, you can see that almost none of them
still survive.
1950 - The second annual
was published in 1950 and it can be read at 1950 PHS Tomahawk
Annual. The format of this annual was
the model for most of the following annuals. Again, most
all of the advertisers in this book no longer exist.
1951 - The third
annual was published in 1951 and can be seen at 1951 PHS Tomahawk Annual.
One of the unusual features of this book is that the
front and back covers are identical to the 1950 book
except for the year.
B. E. Mays High School
2011 Consolidated
Annual - A high school for Black students
opened in Pacolet in August, 1953. Before that, there
was no high school in Pacolet for Black students. If the
students wanted to go to high school they had to go to a
school in Spartanburg and provide their own
transportation. The new school was named for Dr. B. E.
Mays, a noted Black educator from South Carolina. The
school was in operation from 1953 until 1970, a total of
17 years. In 1970, South Carolina schools were
integrated and after that Black students went to Pacolet
High School. The B. E. Mays building became Pacolet
Middle School. Many of the graduates and students that
attended Mays had very fond memories of the school.
Consolidated reunions of graduates of the school started
in 1993. A special reunion was held in September, 2011.
At that time, a committee was set up to publish a
thorough consolidated yearbook for the years the school
was in operation. The school had published yearbooks in
1954, 1957, 1964,
1965, 1968, 1969 and 1970. In addition, combined
yearbooks had been made in 1993 and 2003 for reunions.
This updated 2011 Consolidated Annual is now online on
the Pacolet Memories website. Because of its size, the
Consolidated Annual has been divided into 3 parts. To
read each part, click on the following :
2011 Consolidated Annual
- Part 1
2011
Consolidated Annual - Part
2
2011 Consolidated
Annual - Part 3
I’m particularly indebted to Gloria
Smith for her help in putting the yearbook online. I
would also like to express my thanks to Levator Williams
of the Class of 1964 and Chairman of the Fundraising and
Yearbook Committee. She furnished me a copy of the
yearbook to scan for the website.
As you can see, the making of the 2011 Consolidated
Annual by the committee was a big undertaking. It
contains 248 pages. Most of the pages of the original
consolidated annual are not numbered. However, to make
it easier to read on the website, I have numbered the
pages so they can be used for reference. Other than
that, the pages are just as scanned from the annual
copy I received from Levator Williams.
1964 - The B. E. Mays
High School published annuals while the school was
operating. The school opened in 1953 and its first annual
was published in 1954. Presently, I only have one annual
from Mays during that time and that is from 1964. I have
scanned that book, the 1964 Panther. It can
be read at 1964 B.E. Mays
Annual.
The book that I have has an
interesting story. I bought it from the eBay website on
the Internet a few years ago. Amazingly, the site often
has items related to Pacolet and I have
bought annuals from Pacolet High School there
also. As far as I can tell, this book belonged to Miss
Laverne Smith. Her name, address and telephone number are
written inside the back cover. However, I cannot find her
listed in the annual itself. The annual is autographed in
several places including on a number of the photographs.
