Alumni and giving · For alumni directors and admissions directors
Legacy families recognition that traces every generation at your school
Some families have sent a child to your school in every generation. Show each family across its class years, with yearbook photos of grandparents, parents and the students in your hallways today.
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What is legacy families recognition?
Legacy families recognition honors families with graduates across several generations at one school, usually by listing each family’s class years with yearbook photos from every era, often in an admissions lobby or main hallway. With HistoryShowcase, each family gets a profile that lists every graduate and holds up to 100 photos, and visitors can filter families by number of generations.
Updated
- Made for
- Alumni directors and admissions directors
- Where schools put it
- Admissions lobby, Main hallway, Graduation reception
- Layouts
- Profiles, Photo gallery
- Visitors can filter by
- Generations, Year
- Cost
- Free to use. No payment details required.
A family’s history at your school is scattered across decades.
Legacy families are part of a school’s identity. A grandmother who played clarinet in the 1962 band, her son on the 1989 football team, his daughter in the class of 2027. The proof is scattered across three yearbooks in the library and a few photos on the family’s refrigerator, and the school rarely brings it together.
Legacy families recognition on a touchscreen puts each family in one place. A family profile lists every graduate with their class year and holds yearbook photos from each era, side by side. Current students find their grandparents at seventeen, families see their story told by the school, and visitors on a campus tour see how long some families have called it home.
How does legacy families recognition on a touchscreen compare with yearbooks on a shelf?
| What matters | Yearbooks on a shelf | HistoryShowcase |
|---|---|---|
| Seeing a family together | Three or four separate yearbooks | One profile with every generation |
| Photos side by side | Open several books at once | Portraits from each era in one gallery |
| The family’s own story | Not part of the yearbook | Traditions and history in the biography |
| Finding a family | Know the years, then look | Search the name or filter by generations |
| The original record | The real yearbook, printed at the time | Scans that sit beside the original books |
What a legacy families display includes
One profile per family
The family name, every graduate’s class year and a short story of how the family first came to the school.
Yearbook photos from each generation
A grandparent’s senior portrait beside a parent’s and a current student’s, scanned from the yearbooks.
Traditions passed down
The same team, the same jersey number, the same teacher or the same senior prank, told by the family.
Families by generation count
Collections for three-generation and four-generation families, so the longest legacies stand out.
Faculty and staff families
Teachers and staff who graduated from the school and later sent their own children.
Generations together
Photos from graduation or homecoming of the whole family together on campus.
How to organize legacy families
The family is the story, so each family gets a profile and every graduate goes in the biography with their class year.
Your siteLegacy Families
- Four or more generationsProfiles
Each family profile lists every graduate and holds photos from each era.
- Three generationsProfiles
The same format, with grandparents, parents and current students or recent graduates.
- Generations togetherPhoto gallery
Family photos from graduation, homecoming and legacy events.
Visitors can narrow it by
- Generations
- Year
How do you set up legacy families recognition?
Find your legacy families
Ask families in the admissions file and your alumni newsletter to tell you who in their family graduated, and when.
Pull the yearbook photos
Scan each family member’s portrait from the yearbook for their class year. A family profile can hold up to 100 photos.
Let the family read it first
Preview the profile privately, check the class years with the family, then publish in time for homecoming or graduation.
Where should legacy families be recognized?
- Admissions lobbyProspective families on tour see generations of graduates who chose the school.
- Main hallwayStudents stop to find their parents and grandparents at their own age.
- Graduation receptionOpen it on a screen so legacy families can find their profiles on the day.
Legacy families recognition questions
How do we find out which families qualify?
Ask. Families usually know their own history. Your alumni records, admissions files and a request in the newsletter can turn up many of them, and yearbooks confirm the class years.
What counts as a legacy family?
You decide. You might count only parents and children, or include grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles. Write your definition in the collection description so visitors understand it.
Can families add their own photos?
They can send them to your office, and your team adds them to the family profile. Everything is previewed in a private draft before it is published.
Can visitors find a family quickly?
Yes. Visitors can search for a family name, filter by number of generations, or filter by year to find every family with a graduate in a given class.
Related ideas
Bring every generation of your families together
Free to use. No payment details required.
