In my piles of stuff, I have three Duke yearbooks. Three editions of The Chanticleer. Yearbooks from 1994, 1995, and 1997. Yearbooks are free every year to Duke undergrads.

Who wouldn’t alumni want to keep these books, chock-full of memories from their college days? I don’t think I care to keep them. They’re mostly full of photographic profiles of accomplished students and professors and candid shots of people I didn’t know. There may be only one or two pages in each heavy volume that I have any interest in.

People keep their college yearbooks prominently displayed on their bookcases, at least the one commemorating their own class. I’ve had them in my pile for several years now. I’m keeping a lot of my college stuff, mostly a bunch of papers, returning them to some fresh boxes. But these yearbooks, I don’t have any use for them. I have my own photographs to remind me of any positive memories I have of my time at Duke. Like I said, most of the photographs in The Chanticleer don’t do this for me.

So I actually looked online for people who buy up yearbooks. If I can get pocket change for them, I’ll gladly apply them to my still-active student loan balance. They were free, after all. Anything I get is pure profit. Maybe someone I know wants one; if so, let me know.

Interestingly enough, most recent graduates of Duke or any other college have no interest in their printed yearbooks either.