Altoona Area Public Library - Altoona Area School District History

Souvenir book distributed during a reunion event of scholars held in Altoona, PA at the Logan House on June 12th, 1896. From the Dedictory page, "The Reunion at Altoona, Pa . , on June 12th, 1896, was a veritable symposium of " ye olden times " of school days. Though but a few hours were at the disposal of those participating, there was awakened in the breasts of all a train of genial thoughts, whose golden trail wound over and through the vicissitudes of life for more than a generation of time. In those few hours all present, despite the sweep of years and the consequent revolutions of sentiment and conditions, again basked in the sunshine of youthful innocence, pleasures and hopes,—again built castles in the air,—again, through the gold-rimmed glasses of imagination, revelled in the sports and amusements of boyhood and girlhood, and once more dreamed amid the pastoral quiet and beauty of rural scenes. There was reincarnated the camaraderie of youth, which was given a broader and deeper meaning and influence by the riper feelings and comprehension of advanced years. This brochure,—styled for reasons of association and comradeship "A Souvenir,"—though but modestly arrayed, may serve to perpetuate memories, not only of the happy event so recently celebrated, but also of the varied career of the common-school system of Altoona, past and present. To the Association's historian, Mr. W . S. Humes, great credit is due for the material employed in its compilation."