Newspapers are important tools for all researchers. No other published source covers such a wide range of topics and reaches so deeply into the communities in our state. Since 1959, the State Archives of North Carolina has microfilmed newspapers from across the state as part of the North Carolina Newspaper Project. This initiative includes more than 1,000 titles published from 1751 to 1898 with the goal of preserving these papers for future researchers. The North Carolina Newspaper Project consists, for the most part, of papers that are no longer being published. While many copies of microfilmed newspapers are available online through the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, additional titles are available for use by researchers in the Microfilm Room of the State Archives in Raleigh. A guide to newspapers on microfilm at the State Archives is available from the State Archives and State Library of North Carolina websites.
Through this exhibit page you can view and search North Carolina’s early (1752-1890s) newspapers digitized as part of the 2009 North Carolina Digitization Project funded by a LSTA grant provided by the State Library. In addition to these early papers, many of DigitalNC’s other newspapers are only available thanks to the microfilming and preservation efforts of the State Archives of North Carolina.
Additional digitized archival content from the State Archives is available in the North Carolina Digital Collections.