Resurrecting The Record

It started by chance, at a friend’s birthday brunch.

It was May 2024. After eating, a few of us went to the King’s library because someone needed to print something. I tagged along, and when we walked in, I noticed a small display of old King’s uniforms and yearbooks. I turned to the librarian and said, “Oh, I’m so excited for us to get a yearbook when I graduate!” They smiled and replied, “Oh, we don’t do those anymore.”

I was surprised. They explained the last Record was published in 2014, and no one was quite sure why it had stopped. Maybe it was the rise of social media, or the tradition just faded. I asked if anyone could bring it back. They said yes.

That idea stuck with me, so I returned to the library the next day and asked to see the old editions. I spent hours flipping through them. There were students laughing, posing and making jokes. The campus looked the same; the only difference was that the buildings used to be covered in ivy. It made King’s feel timeless, and I felt connected to something much bigger than just my own experience these past few years.

That feeling meant a lot to me. I arrived at King’s in September 2020 during the height of the pandemic. I lived in Middle Bay; we were mostly cut off from the rest of campus and almost completely cut off from the rest of Halifax. It was a strange and lonely year, but those of us who lived through it became a kind of family. Now, that whole experience feels like it has quietly disappeared. So few of us are still here, and there’s no collective record of what that time was like.

That’s what made The Record feel important: our memories deserved a place to live.

Over the summer, I began researching what it would take to bring the yearbook back. By fall, I had revived the society and started reaching out to the King’s community. We worked closely with the KSU and Friesens, who also printed the yearbooks 10 years ago. I couldn’t have done any of it alone. Alicia Pearce, Hayley Carroll, Merrick Carr, Amelia Penney-Crocker and Lauren Sooksom signed on and stayed with the project through every stage. Their commitment and creativity are what made this possible.

As a nod to its legacy, we’ve designed the 2025 cover in the style of the very first Record in yearbook format from 1951. Before that, The Record existed in literary form as a collection of student writing. It felt important to honour the origins of something we’re bringing back to life.

To the friends who sat with me at that brunch, and to all FYP students of 2020–21: this is for you. You didn’t get your own yearbook, but I carry you in mine.

This book will help ensure that our time at King’s is remembered.

The 2025 edition of The Record is currently available for purchase online through the Friesens website. Copies will be printed and shipped in the fall.

Inset: McKenna Blucher-Bunting and Associate Fellow Hilary Ilkay, Yearbook Society fair display (photo by Alicia Pearce)