They show pupils, teachers and parents at schools around Leeds during those two decades.
For many people, school was the best time of your life, when you forged new friendships and learned more about the world, but for others it was a struggle.
These photos capture happy days at schools in Leeds, some of which have since been lost for good.
But they also show some of the difficulties facing schools back then, from an arson attack to cramped classrooms and protests over teacher pay and planned closures.
This retro photo gallery also proves how some things never change, with school uniform rows raging back then just as they are today.
A visit by a sporting legend and cricket in the playground on the last day of school are among the other atmospheric photos taking you back up to half a century.
Do these photos bring back any memories of your school days in the 1970s or 1980s? Let us know in the comments section.
13. PTA
Edward Foster (right), vice-chairman of Victoria School Parent-Teacher Association, talking with other parents outside the school in Leeds on April 3, 1974 | YPN Photo: YPN
14. Overcrowding
Park Spring Primary School, Leeds, where a teacher is seen using the staffroom to teach pupils due to overcrowding, in March 1977 | YPN Photo: YPN
16. Leeds Free School
Teacher, Ian Paul with pupils, Mark, 15, left, and Richard, 12, at Leeds Free School in October 1980 | YPN Photo: YPN
17. Painting
Pupils painting on a wall at Leeds Free School in February 1973 | YPN Photo: YPN
18. Rugby presentation
The Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Rose Lund, and the Lady mayoress, Sheila Walker, visit Kirkstall Middle School in March 1987 to meet the Leeds Schools' Rugby League squad, which is to play Warrington Schools in a curtain raiser to the RL Challange Cup Final at Wembley on May 2. The mayor is pictured presenting a memento for the Warrington boys to Leeds Schools' captain Andrew Edgell. | YPN Photo: YPN