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The Ottawan was published by the Junior class until the 1940’s when it started to have an editorial staff responsible for its publication

·       There was no Ottawan published for the years: 1911, 1977 and 1984

·       Between 1901-1909 the yearbooks had a very literary bent including story authors using flowery language and poetry the way they did in the 19^th c; this bent slowly started to change and was gone by the 1916 yearbook when there was also far less use made of advertisements pages; as these had shrunk from about 30 pages down to 8 pages of advertisements; these ads pages picked up again in the 30’s

·       1908 and 1909--Engravings used in book-  poetry used for dedication and quotes of sections were used from well known poets such as Milton and Shakespeare as introductions

·       In 1909 yearbook-- the  university night school roster was included (p.167); literary type writings used throughout and especially in the “Et Cetera” section of the yearbook—this yearbook also describes many of the OU traditions: Junior reception, Freshman Chicken fry, Senior Hat, Senior memorial, Senior ivy, Standpipe and the painting the dome

·       Early yearbooks were dedicated to specific people e.g. 1910 yearbook was dedicated to Rev. E. K Chandler; 1912 yearbook was dedicated to Dr Silas Price president of the university; each year book presented summaries of the important events of that year—sometimes as many as 26 pages were spent on advertisements of local businesses

·       1914-yearbook was dedicated to Fred P Fletcher a caretaker of the buildings at OU; this book has many beautiful pictures of Ottawa city buildings  such as the City Library, Franklin County Court House and the home of ML Ward; the yearbook itself is beautifully illustrated has been divided into six  separate books which were separately illustrated: The Faculty, Classes, Oratory and Debate,  Organizations, Athletics and Year  and were then published as one; this practice was started in 1912 but it was as not as elaborate as the 1914 yearbook

·       1915-16 yearbooks did a good job of describing faculty biography,  and student organizational and sport activity; 1918 yearbook was very gaudy, with headings done in a yellow that did not stand out well and that clashed with the rest of the page and often the typing

·       1922 yearbook stood out with its beauty contest pictures and jokes section

·       Yearbooks started using themes-1926 had a Victorian theme; Victorian scenes used to divide the book- 1931 the theme was Greek and quotes from Greek plays were used throughout the book- in 1937 the theme was “the pageantry of life”—1941 and 1941 was focused on the Indian mascot, Giego

·       1946 yearbook stood out because of its section about Servicemen  and the 1947 was different because it had a creative writing page that included student poetry

·       1950’s yearbooks did a good job of putting sports activities on the map; 1959 yearbook is very particular in its description of football games

·       1961 yearbook was circulated with the inclusion of a Summer Activities magazine that provided pictures of students participating in different student parties and events

·       1965 yearbook theme was A century in review; it provided a historical article about OU starting at its inception up to 1963 it had an index of sponsors and also provided an index of senior activities that was organized in alphabetical order by student name and described what activities each senior was involved in at OU

·       The OU yearbooks of the 70’s had a different look and feel; they were colorful and unlike the years before there was an extreme use of photographs and captions and it was much less information heavy; from 1975 color photographs were being used in the yearbooks

·       In 1980 yearbook only the front page was color and the rest of the book was done in black and white photos like in past years; by 1968 and into 1990’s

·       In 1990’s yearbooks color photos were being used in the front and the center of the yearbook and then the rest of the layout was done in black and white photos—starting in late 1990’s—yearbook covers were more elaborate e.g. 1997 yearbook cover was called Braving New Horizons and was done in green and gold while the 1999 yearbook cover was done in blue and silver and was calledCelebration of champions

·       1996-1999 yearbooks and 2003 yearbook had additional World Yearbook contained in the back as a special feature magazine which contained music, world affairs, entertainment and other information from around the world for that publication year

·       2000’s focus was on color scheme of black and gold; specially creative covers for yearbooks were created; 2002 yearbook has special on Mowbray Union before and after the ice storm at the end of the book as a feature in photographs and captions

·       2004 onward yearbooks were published by Herff Jones Publishing; publisher provided specifications for publishing in each book eg. what computer programs were used for layout and how many yearbooks were printed

·       2004 onward yearbooks were created  with flashy covers using the OU color scheme and then glossy photograph paper was used  for the yearbooks to make the feel as if they were quality printed; 2003 groundbreaking of the Hull Center was rendered in color; 2005 yearbook –only yearbook pictures in color were Homecoming pictures

·       The last yearbook in book format was published in 2009; from 2010 onward The Ottawa Digital Yearbook has been published on Compact Disk

·       Currently a portion of the OU yearbooks (1908-1943) were indexed and are searchable on the library’s Archives  and Collections website