Thanks to the help of our partners at Chatham County Historical Association, we are pleased to announce the addition of exciting new material on DigitalNC. This latest batch includes six editions of Bennett High School’s yearbook Panther and three editions of Chatham Central High School’s Centralia. DigitalNC browsers can view these latest additions, here.

Also included is a 19th-century cipher book that belonged to Chatham County resident Thomas Swain Dowd (also known as Swain or even more simply, just T.S.). Dowd was born in Chatham County in 1802 and lived there throughout his life. Cipher books were commonly used as lesson books for students and instructors engaged in the study of mathematics. Although it is uncertain exactly where Dowd studied, the lesson dates in his cipher book range over ten years from January 6, 1823 to September 14, 1833. Modern-day viewers can find lessons on topics like “Inverse Proportion,” “Compound Interest,” and “Reduction of Currencies” alongside elaborately scrawled notes and practice problems. Like any good student, Dowd managed to sneak in some extra curriculum into his lesson book that includes a handwritten speech officiating the marriage of two people named Geo and Esther, pages from the Book of Numbers, and of course – doodles.

More information about Thomas Swain Dowd and his cipher book can be found on a Facebook post, linked here, from our partners at the Chatham County Historical Association.

More information about our partner, Chatham County Historical Association, can be found on their website here. 

Exhibits featuring Chatham County Historical Association include Chatham County Funeral Programs, which can be found here, and, North Carolina African American High Schools, which is linked here.

More materials, including more yearbook titles, maps, scrapbooks, and photographs can be found on Chatham County Historical Association’s contributor page, which is linked here.