Red and White 1923, First University of Detroit Yearbook
The first yearbook put out by the University of Detroit was the Red and White in 1923. If anyone knows the story about the first publication, could you send me a note, there is a big gap in the Varsity News from September 1922-June 1923. If anyone can find ANY issue of the Varsity News between September 1922 to June 1923, kindly send them to the University of Detroit Mercy Library Archives. Prior to the first yearbook a “Pictorial” issue of the Varsity News served as a yearbook for the university. Later issues of the yearbook were call “The Tower”.
In addition to the usual pictures of graduates (with a short description of their activities), juniors, sophomores and freshmen, there is also a follow up on the graduates of the very first class of 1883 and some of the class of 1884. Football dominates the sports section of the yearbook, basketball gets two pages, the rest of the sports teams barely gets mentioned at all. 
No doubt at the time, its the student activities and their pictures that got people to buy the yearbook, but some ninety years later, the advertisements might be more interesting to historians. As one might expect there are the advertisements for the automobile: 
but would you expect to see an ad for a washing machine called “Miss America”? Who even knew they made those things in Detroit! (FYI- In case you are wondering about the other ads on this page: “Interurbans” are electric streetcars)
No one puts out yearbooks any more and that is too bad. Just think what the future generations will miss because there is no nice package in print to browse through like a yearbook.
