ANNIVERSARIES & REUNIONS

Create a lasting digital archive for your school anniversary or reunion.

Whether it's 50 years or 500, SocialArchive helps schools, colleges and universities bring their community back, tell their story together and leave a legacy people return to for years.

SocialArchive digital archive for a school’s 150th anniversary, showing photographs, yearbooks, video and Spoken Stories spanning 1875 to the present day

See it in action

Everything you need to plan, celebrate and remember your anniversary.

Every milestone faces the same challenge: doing justice to a story that spans decades, bringing in voices from across your community and making the moment last.

Before

Build your archive

Bring every photograph, yearbook and film into one searchable home.

In the run-up

Bring people back

Invite your community to explore your history, find themselves in it and add their own memories.

On the day

Capture new memories

Alumni and your wider community share photographs and stories, online or on the night.

Afterwards

Leave a lasting legacy

An archive your community can return to, add to and share for generations, with a time capsule ready for your next milestone.

Bring photographs, yearbooks, newsletters, programmes, event footage and alumni stories out of shared drives and email threads, and into one searchable platform. Every item tagged, every face searchable, every decade accounted for.

That archive then powers everything else: your anniversary communications, your event, your fundraising campaign and the story you leave behind.

Give your history a home.

BUILD YOUR ARCHIVE

Explore heritage & archives >

Archive team photograph with a former pupil identified by facial recognition, beside a notification that he has been found in 47 photos

Invite your community back into your story.

BRING PEOPLE BACK

Give your community somewhere to explore their years with you, find themselves in your history and add to it.

Facial recognition groups faces across your whole archive, so one identification unlocks every photograph of that person, and they get their own ‘That’s me’ gallery.

Explore decades of photographs, films and documents
Find themselves in a personal ‘That’s me’ gallery
Identify friends and share the memories behind each photograph
Add their own photographs and memorabilia

Explore alumni & development >

Collect memories and stories from your alumni and community.

CAPTURE MEMORIES

Community uploads

Alumni upload their own photographs, documents and memorabilia. Every submission is moderated before it goes live.

Spoken Stories

Guided prompts make it easy to record audio, video or written memories from anywhere. No equipment, no scheduling.

Explore Spoken Stories →

Event capture

Set up a device on the night and capture stories while people are together and nostalgia is at its peak.

Everything your community shares becomes content you own, ready for:

Your anniversary portal
Social media
Anniversary videos
Speeches, publications and campaigns
The archive, for future generations

No one knows your history like the people who lived it. Invite alumni and your wider community to add their own photographs, memorabilia and stories, and your anniversary becomes a shared project they feel part of.

Create a digital time capsule for your next milestone.

DIGITAL TIME CAPSULE

Record the present and set a date for it to open. Student voices from 2026. Staff reflections on the institution today. The Class of 2016 recording messages at their 10th reunion, to open at their 25th.

Or release it in stages, unlocking something new each month or year to build anticipation before your next milestone.

SocialArchive digital time capsule sealed in 2026 to open at the 200th anniversary in 2076, containing student Spoken Stories, campus photographs, a virtual tour and letters to a future class

Also worth exploring: Virtual Spaces

Interactive tours of your buildings as they stand today, layered with archive photographs and spoken memories.

Explore Virtual Spaces →

How The Latymer Foundation brought 400 years to life.

Facing a landmark anniversary with thousands of unsearchable archive photographs, Latymer used SocialArchive to build an engagement hub that reconnected alumni, powered award-winning initiatives and created a digital legacy for generations to come.

CUSTOMER STORIES

596Lost alumni reconnected during the 400th campaign
100kContent views
🏆CASE Circle of Excellence 2025, Grand Gold

Download the Latymer case study

Reunion story

Cornell Football: celebrating 50 years since a historic tour

In 1976, Cornell's lightweight football team toured Japan for the Silk Bowl. For the 50th anniversary reunion, the team is bringing its press cuttings, rosters and photographs together on SocialArchive, so everyone can share in the celebrations, including those who can't attend.

Run remotely by organisers across the US and beyond
Team members upload their own photographs and press cuttings
Facial recognition, plus people tagging for faces hidden under helmets

We were delighted to work with the team to launch the Rowan SocialArchive as part of our 90th anniversary celebrations. The platform is an amazing way for us to celebrate the stories, achievements and everyday moments that make our school community so special.
Rowan Preparatory School90th anniversary

How will you mark your next milestone?

Whether you are planning a 25th class reunion, a 300th institutional anniversary or something in between, we would love to show you what SocialArchive can do.

GET IN TOUCH

Book a demo

Anniversary and reunion FAQs

Everything you need to know about SocialArchive's anniversary and reunion capabilities.

Why should I use SocialArchive for my next anniversary or reunion?

Because anniversaries and reunions are some of the most powerful moments of connection your community will ever experience, yet too often they pass without being captured in a meaningful, lasting way. SocialArchive helps you turn a single event into something much bigger. It allows you to preserve your history in a searchable archive, surface personal memories through individual photo collections, and capture authentic stories from the people who lived them. Instead of a moment that fades, you create a living resource your community can revisit, contribute to and share from, long after the event itself has ended.

What types of anniversaries and reunions does SocialArchive support?

All of them. Institutional anniversaries of any scale, class reunions, sports team gatherings, boarding house centenaries, college society celebrations, university club milestones and more. Whether you are a major university celebrating 300 years or a group of 50 people marking their 25th reunion, SocialArchive scales to fit your needs and your community.

Can our community contribute their own photographs and memories?

Yes. Alumni, former staff, current students and community members can all upload their own photographs, documents and memorabilia directly into your archive. They can also record video, audio or written memories using Spoken Stories. Every submission goes through a moderation workflow before it goes live, so your team stays in full control of what gets published.

How does the facial recognition work?

SocialArchive groups faces across your archive. Once someone is identified, every photograph of that person becomes instantly searchable and tagged across your entire collection. One identification unlocks many. As with any facial recognition technology there are limitations. Images where a face is not clearly visible, such as side profiles or photographs taken from behind, may not always be detected. Human oversight is always advised, and we encourage communities to help identify faces and fill in the gaps.

How does the digital time capsule work?

The time capsule feature lets you record the present and seal it with a future date. Student voices, staff reflections, photographs of spaces as they are today. Set a single opening date for your next milestone, or create staged releases (content unlocking each month or year in the run-up to your next occasion), building momentum and anticipation along the way.

How far in advance should we start building our archive before the event?

As early as possible. The archive you build ahead of your event underpins everything. From your communications and invitations to the event experience itself and the personalised content you share with your community. We recommend starting at least six months before your milestone date. This gives you time to gather material, invite contributions and build momentum. The earlier you begin, the more your community can get involved and the more meaningful the experience will be when the occasion arrives.

Can we capture stories at an event on the night?

Yes, and your anniversary or reunion events are one of the best moments to do it. Nostalgia is at its peak, people are together and emotions are high. Set up a device on the night and use Spoken Stories to capture memories there and then, or even set up QR codes allowing attendees to upload their photos from the evening there and then. Everything captured goes straight into your archive.

We do not have a digital archive yet. Can we still use SocialArchive?

Absolutely. Many institutions start with physical photographs, documents and materials that have never been digitised. SocialArchive is designed to help you build from the ground up. We make it easy to bring everything together in one place, whether you are uploading existing files or starting to digitise your collections. You do not need everything ready from day one. We work with you to prioritise what matters most and build your archive step by step, turning scattered history into a structured, searchable resource.

I am not from a school or university. Can we still use SocialArchive?

Yes. SocialArchive works for any group with a shared history and a milestone worth celebrating. Whether it is a university sports team, a college society, a community organisation or even a group of friends planning a reunion, the same principles apply: capturing memories, bringing people together and creating something that lasts. If you have a story worth preserving and a community you want to engage, SocialArchive can support you.

Is there a demo available?

Absolutely. We offer a no-obligation demonstration tailored to your milestone occasion. Book a demo here or get in touch to arrange a time that works for you.

Anniversary and reunion ideas

RESOURCES

News

4 March 2026

Turn Alumni Reunions into Year-Round Engagement Campaigns

4 March 2026

Alumni reunions are emotionally powerful moments but treating them as isolated events leaves enormous engagement and fundraising potential on the table. This article sets out a practical three-phase framework for advancement and alumni relations teams who want to turn their next reunion into a twelve-month engagement campaign, from building anticipation months in advance, to capturing stories on the day, to sustaining momentum long after attendees have gone home.