Digitizing an Arc of Time

Scanning 50 Years of Life at The Meher Schools

The first personal computer came to market the same year The Meher Schools was founded—1975. We got our first computer in 1983, when Apple Computer donated a computer (an Apple IIe) to every school in California. For the first few years, we used ours only to maintain class lists. Gradually we began to incorporate Access and Excel for some of our record keeping, but we still had to use paper forms to gather information.

A major turning point came in 2019 when we adopted the Curacubby online data-management system. Instead of filling out forms by hand that staff or volunteers then had to process, parents now filled them out online—everything from preschool applications to immunization forms. In 2024 we switched to FACTS when Curacubby went out of business.

But we still had virtually every paper record for every student who had attended pre-Curacubby—and thousands of photos—housed in bulging binders filling four cabinets. Some documents we’re required by law to keep, but most we’ve saved for posterity. There are student and other administrative records, program documents (lesson plans, reports, curricula, class lists), and documents and photos related to events (graduations, concerts, fairs, parties) and the arts (plays, projects, poetry, songbooks, murals).

This year we’re finally able to turn our attention to the monumental task of digitizing a half-century of forms and photos. That’s Erica Brooks’s job. Erica (Class of ’92) devotes 25 hours a week to scanning these historical records, working in collaboration with elementary Co-Principals Vince d’Assis and Ivy Summers and Director of Operations Warren Wallace (all of whose student records are part of our collection). They determine which files to digitize and which ones to discard and how to organize the ones we’re keeping. Erica takes particular delight in coming across photos of students who are now on our staff, many of whom have or have had children here, and in some cases of those students’ parents when they worked here. (She also found some of her and her classmates in our baby room.)

“Rediscovering these documents and photos is unearthing so many precious memories at the school, tracing its history and telling the story of our ‘school of love,’” she says. “The records are also snapshots of the students and staff through the years, and how they've grown throughout their time at the school. It’s a joy to witness the arc of their time here. Another fun arc is seeing how many students return as parents and to contribute in different ways—as volunteers, staff, and even administrators. “This project is such a fun way to honor the legacy of the school and celebrate the magic it creates—in physical forms and in hearts.”