1970 WMS Echo Yearbook Scanned

My first attempt at using a new scanner, the CZUR Aura Pro, has been completed. I choose to scan the 1970 Wayne Middle School Echo yearbook, as I promised some classmates I would do it, and it is a relatively small yearbook. This was the first Echo yearbook from the Wayne Middle School, which consisted of the classes of 1974, 1975, and 1976, in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades at the time.

It can be found and downloaded here.

Scanner Saga

I was somewhat disappointed in the image quality of the scanner and the software. Though the CZUR Aura Pro is one of their “mid-price range” units, the software has some bugs, and the image quality is way behind my 15 year old Canon flat-bed scanner. It is probably OK for just text, and it is much quicker to scan books, but when trying to reproduce photos within a book, it is falls amazingly short. I am still working on trying to come up with a process that will allow me to scan more yearbooks that are acceptable quality, but still having some issues with having even exposure across a page. This scanner has built-in LED lights, but at least with glossy pages, one light produces glare, and the others don’t get enough light to the bottom of pages. I may need to use additional lighting to make it work. Many yearbooks in the 1960s and 1970s did not use glossy paper. They might reproduce more effectively.

Yearbooks Project

Over the years, I have scanned hundreds of pages of Wayne Eagle yearbooks, using various flatbed scanners that I have owned. It is fairly tedious, as the bound books don’t often fit on the platen very well, they are hard to get straight, the center binding area is often cut-off, there are often moire effects that degrade the image, and a lot of editing often is required to get a decent image. It also puts stress on the binding of the yearbook. It is a very slow process, which is why I have only completely scanned two yearbooks to date.

I just ordered a new type of document scanner which will hopefully be much faster and easier to scan complete yearbooks. Assuming that it pans out and I scan all the yearbooks that I have in my possession, I will be looking to scan yearbooks that I don’t have here so they can be put online. I will try to contact the Ontario Historian, Ontario Public Library, and Wayne Central Library to see if what yearbooks they might have and if my system is portable enough to take on the road. My guess is that there will still be yearbooks that I cannot access, so I am hoping maybe some alumni could loan me yearbooks so they can be scanned. Yearbooks that are heavily signed may not be good subjects for scanning. I can edit out some stuff, but it would be difficult to try and edit many pages of personal text that is over photos or other text.

Local is probably best, but even shipping back and forth can work. I think I can access most of the 50s, and have many of the 60s and early 70s, so basically all yearbooks from 1977-2000 are definitely ones I don’t not have, and also anything from 2008 onward. I hope the school can help me out with these, as I don’t think too many alumni from that era are visitors here.

So watch this page, as I will put out a call for yearbooks to borrow to complete this task as I progress through this project.

Wayne Central School Bus Involved in Accident

A scary accident in Webster this afternoon involving a Wayne bus with 22 seniors and juniors coming back from a field trip, and a car. The bus caught on fire. All occupants of the bus got out safely before the fire, with only two non-life threatening injuries. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the occupant of the other vehicle.

https://www.whec.com/top-news/school-bus-crashes-on-lake-road-in-webster/