CARLI Digitized Book of the Month – December 2015

East Wahian (1978)

With the release of the new film next week, I am jumping on the Star Wars bandwagon for this month’s featured digitized book from the CARLI Internet Archive collections.

The original Star Wars film was released in 1977, and it clearly captured the imaginations of the yearbook staff at Black Hawk College that following academic year.

The 1978 edition of the East Wahian yearbook has a dedicated Star Wars theme. Start with the cover of the yearbook, with its prominent “Star Warriors” title drawn in the film’s title credits style. Then the book’s table of contents page introduces the volume with “Not so long ago on a hill not so very far away…”

But, I am most drawn to the full page illustrations that decorate section title pages throughout the yearbook, including the drawing shown here of Han Solo and Chewbacca. They are wonderful examples of fan art from the beginning of the Star Wars craze. Page through the rest of the volume to see the portrait of Darth Vader that graces the cover page for the faculty and administration photos or the depiction of the Death Star that includes the Black Hawk College emblem.

I am grateful that the administrators of the college had the sense of humor to permit the playful spirit that permeates this yearbook. The drawings are delightful, and it is one of the more creative yearbooks I’ve had the pleasure to stumble across. Enjoy, and may the force be with you.

Written by Alice Creason, Head of Library Technology and Technical Services, Lewis University

This volume was contributed by Black Hawk College. You can find this volume and others from CARLI participant libraries in the Internet Archive.