See LTHS Videos From 1980s And 1990s

LA GRANGE, IL — For most schools, the events and ceremonies from yesteryear are largely lost to history. A few photos may remain, but that's about it. Not so for Lyons Township High School.

In the last few weeks, the school has been posting videos going back to the 1980s of major events at Lyons Township. The videos have been housed in the school's archives for years. Bill Allan, the school's supervisor of television services, and the lead technician, David Karaffa, have been converting the old film to digital and posting the videos on YouTube.

Don't think for a minute that this is easy. The process of converting an hour-long event takes about quadruple that time, Allan said in an interview this week. But with all school events canceled during the pandemic, the duo have more time to post old videos.

The posted videos include the 1990 Awards Night, the 1991 Girls Tennis Pep Rally, the 1986 Eurythmic Dance Company Show, the 1995 1st Homecoming Variety Show, the 2005 Gurrie USO Show and the 1993-1994 Basketball: Road To State.

Lyons Township has film going back to the early 1980s, around when the school started its TV station, LTTV. Nothing has turned up yet from the 1960s or 1970s, Allan said.

Allan and Karaffa have gone through more than 2,000 tapes and another 1,000 remain, Allan said. So far, 34 are on the YouTube playlist. That number is expected to rise to well more than 100 over the next month, Allan said.

"It's a tremendous amount of work," said Allan, a 1991 Lyons Township graduate. "Part of the reason why I'm doing this is because I'm an alum. I see value in this as a time capsule. Yearbooks are good, but you can't hear people speaking. We have an advantage with all of these cool programs."

So far, the school has been getting positive feedback about the videos. Even current students like the idea of seeing of their parents in the footage, Allan said.

"For them to see this, it's a link between now and the past. There is footage of places that have been completely renovated," he said.

Allan started with the school in 2006 and, soon after, the department moved from film to DVDs. A few years later, it went digital.

"This is my 14th year," Allan said. "In the time I've been here, we have gone from tape to DVD to HD digital files. It's a tremendous improvement in sound and video."

Here are some of the examples of videos that Lyons Township has posted: