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Recent Issues of Elon University Student Newspapers Now Online

177 new issues between 2012-2018 of Elon University student newspapers The Pendulum and The Edge are now available for online browsing. These new resources are available on DigitalNC thanks our partners at Elon University.

Elon University is a private university located in Elon, Alamance County, North Carolina. Originally founded in 1889 as Elon College, Elon University obtained it’s current name in 2001. Elon University’s first student-run newspaper, Maroon and Gold, began publication in 1919 but was discontinued in 1970. The campus news outlet was eventually reinstated in 1974 as The Pendulum. In addition to the many audio and visual news shows Elon University now provides, The Pendulum continues weekly publications to this day. As it is a student-run newspaper, they follow the academic calendar year, which means issues fall off during the winter, spring, and summer breaks.

Holding multiple awards from the Associated Collegiate Press, The Pendulum informs both the campus and local community of news within and beyond the university. Besides updates on sports and campus initiatives, students actively use this space to voice opinions on topics ranging from politics to religion to activism. These recent uploads cover the before, during, and after effects of the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Elon University’s student population, highlighting the many intersections of student experience.

The Edgeformerly known as Elon Edge, is a supplemental magazine affiliated with The PendulumMuch of the content covered in the Edge is focused on entertainment, such as music, fashion, local events, and interest pieces.

To take a look at the entire collection of Elon University student newspapers from years 1910 to 2018 by front page, click here. For more information about Elon University, you can visit their homepage.


More Elon University Yearbooks Now Online!

Thanks to our partner, Elon University, we now have several editions of Elon University yearbooks on our website, bringing their yearbooks on our site up to 2018.

The cover of the 2018 edition of the Elon University yearbook.

In 1889, the North Carolina Legislature issued a charter for Elon College, which was founded by the Christian Church and William S. Long. The yearbook, Phi Psi Cli, began publishing issues in 1913.

The cover of the 2015 edition of the Elon University yearbook.

For more information about Elon University, please visit their website.


DPLA News: Elon University, Pender County Public Library, and UNC-Charlotte now Included

DPLA Logo (square)Elon University, Pender County Public Library, and UNC-Charlotte are the three newest North Carolina institutions to join the Digital Public Library of America. North Carolina institutions are now represented with almost 160,000 digital items.

The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center is the DPLA’s hub in North Carolina. You can read more about the DPLA and North Carolina in an earlier blog post from the official launch last month.


Camel Battles Chesterfield to Secure Elon Students’ Brand Loyalty

Judging from a battle of the ads between Camel cigarettes and Chesterfield cigarettes in the Maroon and Gold, the student newspaper of Elon University, the 18-24 demographic was a priority target for ad men as early as 1936. Throughout Volume IX of the Maroon and Gold, spanning the 1935-1936 academic year, Camel regularly placed ads on the penultimate page of an issue, while Chesterfield secured space on the back page.

Camel and Chesterfield were a North Carolina tobacco rivalry. The R.J. Reynolds Company, which produced Camel cigarettes, was based in Winston-Salem; operations of Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, which produced Chesterfield cigarettes, at the time were located in Durham. Since the debut of Camel cigarettes in 1913, the Chesterfield brand had emerged as a strong competitor.
 
In these 1936 ads from the Maroon and Gold, Camel appealed to college students’ strained budgets and even suggested that smoking Camels improved stamina while studying. Chesterfield, on the other hand, attempted to entice college men and women alike with their cigarettes’ smooth taste and sexually suggestive ads.
 
 
“Camel’s money-back offer still open to college smokers!” Maroon and Gold, February 15, 1936, p. 3.
 

 

“The Call for a Milder better tasting cigarette.” Maroon and Gold, February 22, 1936, p. 4.

 

 

“For Digestion’s sake — smoke Camels.” Maroon and Gold, March 21, 1936, p. 5.

 

 

“I know Miss Hepplewhite but I venture to say that by 1937 all the girls will be smoking them…They’re mild, you see and yet They Satisfy.” Maroon and GoldMarch 21, 1936, p. 6.


Early Elon Scrapbooks Available Online

Eight early scrapbooks from Elon College (now Elon University) are now available online. These scrapbooks were prepared by Elon students and contain a fascinating array of materials, including photos, programs, menus, letters, telegrams, and even a few report cards. All of these volumes are from prior to 1923, when a large fire swept the campus, destroying the Main Building, library, and chapel.

These scrapbooks are great fun to browse and will be of interest to anyone curious about college life in the early 20th century.

Images from the Mary Margaret Miller Hardcastle Scrapbook


Over 1,000 North Carolina College and University Yearbooks Available Online

The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center has now digitized over 1,000 yearbooks. Fourteen different colleges and universities have participated in the program to date, and many more are scheduled to participate over the next year. The yearbooks on the North Carolina College and University Yearbooks collection range in date from 1890 (UNC-Chapel Hill) to 2009 (Elon University, Campbell University, and Meredith College). Whether you’re researching family history, looking up old sports teams, or reliving your college years, the online yearbook collection is a great place to spend some time.


Elon College Fighting Christians

Elon Fighting Christian, from the 1998 Phi Psi CliElon College used to have one of the most original mascots in college athletics: the Fighting Christian. Shown here in images at a football game from 1998 and congratulating a homecoming queen in 1985, the Fighting Christian didn’t look especially combative or overtly religious. The choice of mascot may have been inspired by the proximity to nearby Demon Deacons and Blue Devils. In 2000, when Elon’s athletic programs joined a higher division in the NCAA, the mascot was officially changed to the Phoenix, in recognition of the school’s recovery from a 1923 fire.

These images are from the Phi Psi Cli, the Elon University student yearbook. Ninety-four volumes of the yearbook, from 1913-2009, are available online as part of the North Carolina College and University Yearbooks project.Elon Fighting Christian, from the 1985 Phi Psi Cli


Issues of “The Christian Sun” Cover Spiritual News During the Civil War Era

The masthead of The Christian Sun

Thanks to our partner, Elon University, we’ve added another newspaper title to our Newspapers of North Carolina collection. The Christian Sun has been published around the state and elsewhere, including Hillsborough, N.C., Pittsboro, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., and Suffolk, V.A. This batch of issues ranges from 1844-1908, covering the Antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction eras. 

Although this paper comes from one of the most turbulent times of our nation, the publishers seem less interested in breaking news than in spiritual musings and agriculture. On the front page of the October 18, 1861 issue (six months after the beginning of the war), you can read stories like, “The Christian’s Harvest,” “Fate of Those Who Reject the Gospel,” “Farm and Garden: Value of a Shelter for Sheep,” and the exciting “Efforts of Chloroform on Bees.”

A few stories on the front page do make reference to the war, such as “Good for the Thirsty Soldier,” which recommends staying hydrated on long marches with cold coffee. “After a meal,” the article says, “take the coffee grounds, boil them over again, and pour off into your canteen and let it cool for your next march. It is not only nutritive and stimulating, but it will quench the thirst more effectually than water.”

A newspaper clipping entitled "News of the Day"

October 18, 1861

You’ll have to go deeper into the issue to find more detailed news about the battles, though the briefs aren’t what we’d think of as “objective” journalism by today’s standards.

“Probably [McClellan] learned that the Southerners were expecting him and were too well prepared to meet him,” the article boasts.

Perhaps because of the religious leanings of the paper, some of the best articles are completely detached from the timely “news” that contemporary readers are used to; take this pseudo-anarchical argument entitled, “Evils of Creeds. Their Origin.” from September 24, 1851, for example. This article is a bookend to an ongoing series on “Christian union” from the preceding issues, and it summarizes the conclusion that sin, the cause of division within the branches of Protestantism, is also the underlying force of human laws.

To see even more articles on Christian union, the war, and life in the South during this period, you can look at all issue of The Christian Sun here. You can also explore other titles in our Newspapers of North Carolina collection. To see more materials from Elon University, visit their partner page and their website.


Happy Birthday DigitalNC!

Celebrating 10 years NC Digital Heritage Center, with confetti backgroundIt’s DigitalNC.org’s 10th birthday! Though we had hoped to be in the office celebrating, we’re still taking time to look back at years of hard work and the collaborative spirit that makes the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center (NCDHC) what it is!

To date, NCDHC has partnered with 273 libraries, museums, alumni associations, archives, and historic sites in 98 of North Carolina’s 100 counties and we’re growing all the time. Our website currently includes 4.2 million images and files. We share this accomplishment with every institution we’ve worked with. We’d never have gotten to 10 years without staff (permanent, temporary, and student!), our partners, or the network of colleagues all over North Carolina who have encouraged, advised, and supported our work. 

As we approached our anniversary, we realized that our website lacked a synopsis of how NCDHC came to be, and our history. So read on for a brief look at how we got started and our major milestones.

Our History

The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center was one outcome of a comprehensive effort by the state’s Department of Cultural Resources (now the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources) to survey and get a broad overview of the status of North Carolina cultural heritage institutions. That effort was entitled NC ECHO (North Carolina Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) and was funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (which also supports us – thanks IMLS). A major goal of NC ECHO was a multi-year needs assessment. NC ECHO staff visited hundreds of cultural heritage institutions throughout the state to collect data and interview curators, librarians, volunteers, archivists, and more. Many of our partners still remember their visits!

NC ECHO report cover with image of biplaneData collected at these site visits was combined with survey responses to reveal a “state of the state,” summarized in a 2010 report, cover pictured at right. The assessment revealed a lot but, specific to digitization, staff found that nearly three-quarters of the 761 institutions who completed the survey had no digitization experience or capacity. Members of the Department of Cultural Resources (which includes the State Library, State Archives, and multiple museums and historic sites) began brainstorming with other area institutions about a way to help efficiently and effectively provide digitization opportunities. While the NC ECHO project offered digitization grants, workshops, and best practices, an idea emerged of a centralized entity that could assist institutions that didn’t have the capacity to do the work in house. The State Library of North Carolina and UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries joined together to create such an entity: the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center. The Center would be located in Chapel Hill, taking advantage of its central location and the digitization equipment and expertise already available in Wilson Special Collections Library. The State Library would provide funding, guidance, and ongoing promotion and support of the Center’s services.

At its beginning, the Center’s staff digitized small collections of college yearbooks, needlework samplers, postcards, and photographs and made them available through DigitalNC.org. They went to speak with organizations interested in becoming partners, and began taking projects for digitization. Here’s a list of NCDHC’s earliest partners, who came on board during late 2009 and 2010. 

Though we’re not positive of the exact date, we believe DigitalNC.org launched on or near May 12, 2010. Here’s a look at that original site!

DigitalNC.org home page at launch with numerous historic photographs.

In 2011, word about the Center spread. Staff started responding to demand from partners, incorporating newspaper digitization. In late 2012, also in response to popular demand, the Center began digitizing high school yearbooks. Yearbooks and newspapers are some of the most viewed items on DigitalNC, and they remain a significant portion of our work to this day. 

In 2013, NCDHC joined the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) as North Carolina’s “service hub.” The DPLA collects information from digitized collections all over the nation and provides it together in one searchable interface at dp.la. Because of our participation, users can browse and search for collections from North Carolina alongside items from institutions around the country.

Throughout the years, we’ve tried to expand services to fit our partners’ goals. In 2015, we trialed an audiovisual digitization project that incorporated the first films into DigitalNC. Today, we partner with the Southern Folklife Collection at Wilson Special Collections Library to provide audio digitization on an ongoing basis. In 2016, we added a new partner category – alumni associations – to support more digitization of African American high school yearbooks and memorabilia. The following year, we announced a focus on digitization of items documenting underrepresented communities. We also started going on the road with our scanners! For institutions that don’t have the staff time or resources to travel to Chapel Hill, we offer to come for a day or two and scan on site.

2018 Finalist National Medal for Museum & Library Service, with image of medal2018 and 2019 saw several major milestones. We were nationally recognized as an Institute of Museum and Library Services National Medal finalist, and we began a major software migration. Both were a tribute to the size and extent of our operation, though in different ways. As we’ve approached our 10th anniversary we’ve focused on working with partners in all 100 of North Carolina’s counties. Whether you’re rural or metropolitan, we believe your history is important and should be shared online.

One of the ways we’re commemorating this anniversary is to ask our partners and stakeholders how they think we’ve impacted them and their audiences. Join us here on the blog in the second half of 2020 as we share these brief interviews, reflect, and celebrate. Thank you for reading, enjoy the site, and here’s to another 10 years of making North Carolina’s cultural heritage accessible online!


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This blog is maintained by the staff of the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center and features the latest news and highlights from the collections at DigitalNC, an online library of primary sources from organizations across North Carolina.

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