The first student publication at Johns Hopkins was the yearbook, first published in 1889 under the title of Debutante. The senior class published the book with the support of the Administration. The first volume contained contributions from several members of the faculty, including a lead article by President Gilman. The Class of 1890 published a yearbook entitled Hopkins Medley; although they hoped it would be the first of many under that title, the Class of 1891 called their book the Hopkinsian. The Class of 1892 adopted the title Hullabaloo after a popular school yell. The Class of 1893, perhaps to spite the Class of 1892, went back to the Hopkinsian. The Class of 1894, however, returned to the title Hullabaloo and the yearbook has been known by that title ever since.

The first volumes of the yearbook served to provide a journalistic and literary outlet for students. When the News-Letter began publication in 1897, the staff of Hullabaloo felt less of a need to be diverse, and the main purpose of Hullabaloo became, in the words of one editor, to serve as a "memory stimulant."

The first yearbooks contained information about the University, the faculty, the classes, student organizations and athletics. They also contained advertisements as well as essays, poetry and fiction contributed by the students and faculty. In the early books, the illustrations were mostly drawings, with few photographs; as new techniques were developed and the cost of publishing photography decreased, the yearbooks contained more and more pictures. The Class of 1898 was the first to have individual photographs of class members. Around the turn of the century, Hullabaloo began to change its appearance, with more photographs and class information and less literary writing. This trend continued, so that, by the 1920s, the yearbooks were quite different from the earliest ones.

The yearbooks continued to be published by and devoted to the senior class until the late 1930s and 1940s, when eligibility for membership on the staff was broadened; more underclassmen became involved and less emphasis was placed on the senior class.

The yearbooks continued along the same format until the late 1960s, when Hullabaloo switched its emphasis from information about classes to creative writing. Artistic photography was used heavily, some literary writing was re- introduced and informative writing (including, in many cases, names and captions) was cut down or eliminated. Today's yearbook has gone back to a more informative format, yet still incorporates some of the creative ideas adopted in the 1960s.