Schools of the Owens Valley are the subject of the hot-off-the-press 2010 Eastern California Museum Souvenir Calendar. Each year the Museum puts out a calendar full of historic photos from the Eastern Sierra. Last year the calendar featured outdoor recreation of the past, with photos of early camping in Death Valley, trips to the Palisade Glacier and while it seems like a bad idea, ice skating on the LA Aqueduct.

This year the theme is schools. Museum Director Jon Klusmire says that the 2010 calendar features 25 photos of Historic Schoolhouses and Classic Classes in Inyo County. Some of the photos were taken as early as the 1880s, with the newest photos being from the 1920s. Except for a few cases like the current Big Pine High School, none of the schools still stand.

The Calendar features some long lost schools from the Bishop area. For the month of August, the Bishop High School class photo of 1903 is featured with students sitting on the wooden front steps of the school. The photo for the month of September shows the Sunland School that was once located south of Bishop, likely in the area where the Sunland Cemetery is now located. A photo in the back of the calendar shows what was once known as the Riverside School that was located directly north of Bishop, about two and a half miles west of Laws. The cover photo shows the Inyo Academy in 1890, which was once located on what is now Academy Street in Bishop.

The calendar also features photos of schools and students in Olancha, Owenyo, Darwin, Aberdeen, Fort Independence, Furnace Creek, Manzanar, Big Pine, Georges Creek, Keeler, and Independence.

The calendars are available for $10 from the Eastern California Museum in Independence, the local Chambers of Commerce and Spellbinder Books in Bishop. Call the Museum at 760-878-0258 to order the calendar over the phone