At the beginning of school year, the Renton High School yearbook class was out $4,000 from bad sales and the tumbling economy.

“I was really worried,” said Renton High School teacher Susan Johnson. She asked Principal Damien Pattenaude if the school could afford to keep the tradition.

With Renton High one summer away from its centennial, historians are still using its yearbooks to learn about childhood in the 20th century.

Although economic woes during the Great Depression managed to halt yearbook production, this recession won’t triumph.

Pattenaude encouraged Johnson to keep with the book and the class, she said.

Book sales finished so strongly this year that they made up for last year’s loss.

“I think we’re changing the culture of the yearbook,” she said.

In Johnson’s office, extra yearbooks line the walls, a complete set is in the school library.

“The kids love to be back here,” Johnson said, thumbing through the books. “The history that goes along with these is priceless.”

Student Mary Binongcal flipped through old yearbooks to see what Renton High looked like before its recent renovation, she said. “You see so much change.”

Yearbooks are also proof that students haven’t changed much, said Sarah Iles, the Renton History Museum’s collection manager.

The 1917 edition included a horoscope, which listed interests for each student. The page was loaded with inside jokes; student Stanley Hough’s favorite hobby was listed as “a sophomore girl.”

“It really lets you see the personality,” Iles said.

The museum’s yearbooks are easily the most requested resource, said Liz Stewart, the museum director.

Iles has used the books to make family connections, determine the ages and to learn about the early life of some of Renton’s most reputable citizens.

Like today, the first yearbooks were written by students and are a reflection of student life and school history.

“The thing I find interesting is how many girls played sports early on,” Iles said of Renton’s books.

The 1924 girl’s basketball team even won the regional championships. A photo shows the girls lined up, their names indicative of the times – Eva, Verda, Vera, Vera, Verna, Flossie, Helen and Mildred.

The first graduating class started its freshman year in 1907 with 30 students. By time they graduated in 1911, only four students remained.

This was likely because school was costly, Iles said.

Upcoming classes were larger, and the yearbook grew with the school. The 1911 book, consisting of roughly 40 half pages, doesn’t compete with today’s 180-page, full-color Illahee.

The first hardcover book didn’t come until 1930. By 1946 red or white hardcovers were the standard with a few exceptions.

The books are a show of the times.

The 1967 cover was surprisingly racist, Johnson said.

A caricature of shirtless red Indian sprints across the cover in stereotypical garb.

One book during WWII was titled “Maneuvers,” and followed a war theme. Students recorded their efforts to help the war.

“It’s definitely a great snapshot of history.”

Alongside patriotism, the books are also filled with school spirit.

In 1943 the book’s name changed from the Duwamish to the Illahee. A poem explained the change.

The Red-men called it “Illahee”

The white-men “Land of the Indians”

For the Red, for the white

For this land for which we fight;

Our far-famed annual we dub “Illahee”