Front page of the Carolina Union Farmer, October 10, 1912

100 issues of the Carolina Union Farmer are now online at DigitalNC. The recently digitized issues form a nearly complete representation of the weekly paper’s publication between July 1911 and May 1913. Published by the North Carolina Farmer’s Union, the paper provides unique insights into the Labor Movement as it manifested itself in the South during the early twentieth century.

Cosmetics ad in the August 22, 1912 issue

Wool-buyers ad in the August 14, 1912 issue

The issues deal heavily with economics, politics, religion, and topics of agrarian interest, all seen through a distinctly Progressive-Era lens. Many articles urge their audiences to organize against large corporate farming interests and provide instruction as to how the average farmer might go about doing so. Also included are pages of classified and commercial ads, op-eds, cultural submissions such as poetry and prose, and notifications for events and programs hosted by the Farmer’s Union. Many of the issues published in the second half of 1912 feature columns related to the 1912 national and state elections, with political advertisements and endorsements occupying several pages.

Political ad in the September 26, 1912 issue

These issues of The Carolina Union Farmer are held by UNC Libraries. Click here to learn more about the other UNC materials hosted online at DigitalNC.