Yearbook Cover of the 1970 “Retrospect” from East Lincoln High School.
Digital NC is happy to announce a new set of yearbooks from our partner, The Lincoln County Historical Association. With its groovy designs, the yearbooks from East Lincoln High’s “Retrospect” showcase the students from 1969 to 1972 and are sure to take you down a trip on memory lane. The new yearbooks join a vast Lincoln County History Association collection that covers several other high schools, including Rock Springs High, Lincolnton High, Newbold High, and North Brook High.
Special thanks again to Lincoln County Historical Association for their partnership. To see more from their collection on Digital NC, visit them here.
Be sure to check out more yearbooks from high schools and colleges across NC by visiting our NC Yearbook Collection!
For example, mirror selfies seem like they would’ve come out of an era when many teenagers have cell phones and social media accounts. Not so! According to the 1958 edition of The Newboldlite from Newbold High School and the 1956 edition of Le Souvenir from North Brook High School, mirror selfies were the way to show off your fashionable outfits. Thanks to the mirror in these two “Best Dressed” superlative shots, you can get a front and back view of four of the best looks from these teen style icons.
From Le Souvenir, 1957
From Le Souvenir, 1954
Another trend that may surprise you is the rise of influencers 50 years before the invention of Instagram. Apparently, these four students had a natural talent for influencing before it was even a formalized role. Both superlatives are from Le Souvenir; Flora Ann and Milton are from the 1954 edition, and Jimmie and Dorothy are from the 1957 edition.
Images from the 1957 “The Rosphian” of Rock Springs High School in Rock Springs, NC. The top image is of the High School Band. The bottom image is the organization called “Piano Pupils”
From yearbooks to scrapbooks, Digitial NC is happy to announce new items coming from new partner, the Lincoln County Historical Association. Yearbooks range from 1949 to 1971 and cover two of the local high schools, Rock Springs High and Lincolnton High. Along with the numerous amount of yearbooks, Digitial NC has also made available “The Realistic Picture”, a scrapbook that includes class pictures of the Rock Springs Elementary School in 1963.
Special thanks to our partner the Lincoln County Historical Association. To view more from their collection, visit them here.
To view more from our North Carolina High School Yearbooks, visit us here.
In collaboration with our partners at Wilkes Community College, 50 new recordings, which make up hours of audio history, are now available online! These records, previously carefully maintained on reel-to-reel tape, can now be listened to anywhere, anytime. The recordings, which include several fascinating oral histories, stretch as far back as 1953 and extend to 1980.
Many of these recordings are oral histories, where a longtime local of Wilkes County recounts their lived experience in relation to the area. Interviewers, often in collaboration with Wilkes Community College, would visit the homes of longtime locals and candidly record their stories. Because of this candid nature, some recordings include the natural ambience of birdsong, rustling leaves, or chairs moving — all of which make the listener feel closer and more present to the speaker. These speakers (born as early as 1861!) speak on a variety of subjects relating to life in Wilkes County: topics include Camp Jo Harris, the life of an optometrist, and books read (and enjoyed) by former North Carolina Poet Laureate James Larkin Pearson. Many reflect on the lumber and furniture industry which rose to prominence in the area during the early twentieth century. The opinions and subjects are as varied as the memories and lives of the speakers, which paint a colorful picture of Wilkes County’s past.
If you’re interested in learning even more about the history of the area, you’re in luck! Included in this collection are a series of forums held during the 1970s, which focus on Wilkes County’s previous centuries of histories. Though you may not find much contemporary history in these recordings, its fascinating (and perhaps recursive) to hear historical discussions of history. Several of these forums were held at local high schools, and include discussions between local historians and high school students. The candid recordings often pick up teachers hushing side conversations between students; a nice reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Besides oral histories, some recordings contain previous radio broadcasts from local stations. These broadcasts often contain advertisements for local businesses, and are about news relevant to the Wilkes County area. A particular standout is a program broadcast by the Lincoln Heights choir, where schoolchildren urge voters to support a bond that would finance underrepresented schools. The program is scored by classical piano music and includes a concert by the school choir, and is just an overall beautiful listen.
You can listen to that broadcast here, or find more of Wilkes County’s history on NC Digital here. Find out more about our partners at Wilkes Community College at their website here.
The one and one-quarter mile rail line extended from the Capitol Building, which had burned in 1831, to a quarry just east of Raleigh. When the horse-drawn rail carts weren’t transporting the stone used to rebuild the Capitol, people could ride the line in “pleasure cars” for a 25 cent fare. The line cost $2,700 to construct, which would be roughly $91,000 in 2022.
Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.
If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.
We have another 30 titles up on DigitalNC this week! This batch brings us our first newspapers from Dallas, Fairmont, Lake Landing, Maiden, and Newland, North Carolina!
In the January 8th, 1891 issue of the Monroe Enquirer-Register we have an ad for a fledging discount store in Monroe, North Carolina called The New York Racket, which will become the shopping mall staple we know as Belk. Founded by William Henry Belk in 1888, the store would change its name to Belk Brothers in 1898 and go on to become one of the largest department store chains in the country.
January 8th, 1891
Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.
If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.
This week we have another 70 newspapers up on DigitalNC! These titles span 32 towns and almost as many counties! This batch also includes our first additions from the towns of Waco, Pores Knob, La Grange, Leaksville, Mount Olive, and Manson!
Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.
If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.
This week we have an astounding 80 titles up on DigitalNC! These papers span all across the state, covering 22 of North Carolina’s 100 counties! We have papers from smaller communities, like The Free Press from the town of Forest City (Fun fact: Forest City was originally named “Burnt Chimney” after a house that burned own in the area, leaving only a charred chimney behind). We also have well-established papers from Raleigh, such as The Raleigh Times and Evening Visitor, giving us a cross section of the entire state.
Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.
If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.
A bond certificate addressed to Jonathan D. Johnson, who purchased $100 Confederate dollars in March 1864.
Over three dozen 19th century and early 20th century Presbyterian Church sermons delivered by Robert Zenas Johnston are now digitized and available on DigitalNC. Also included are reports from 19th century Presbyterian Churches, documents from Rufus Johnston, and correspondence from Mary Gibson, both citizens of Mecklenburg County. All of these documents come to DigitalNC courtesy of our partner, Davidson College as part of their Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded “Justice, Equality, Community: Reimagining Humanities Curricula” project, which is a three-year, campus-wide initiative. All materials digitized for the project by DigitalNC can be found on the exhibit page Nineteenth Century Family Papers and Plantation Records of Davidson College Trustees.
The cover of one of the notebooks used by the Presbyterian Churches of Mecklenburg County, made in roughly 1876.
Johnston’s sermons (over 550!) stretch from 1859 to 1907, until just before his death in 1908. He delivered them all across the state, from Asheville to Shelby, in different cities around Mecklenburg County, and even at the Unity Church in South Carolina. Approximately 61 of those sermons are undated, but they most likely date from the 1800s as well. In many of the earlier sermons, he discussed the Civil War on the local towns. We also have several of his student notebooks, a contract for a teaching position and pastoral position that Johnston was offered, and more.
Also included in this new collection of documents are financial records of Rufus Johnston, including receipts, bonds, and bills of payment. We also received correspondence and letters from Mary Gibson, one of which tells her brother Robert what she would like done with her property towards the end of the Civil War.
Another folder contains a few documents about Davidson College itself. One document was written by Reverend Jethro Rumple, reminiscing about life at the college in the 1840’s. Included is a small handwritten biography by Reverend Rumple about Reverend John Bunyan Shearer, the eighth president of Davidson College from 1888 to 1901. These documents help give us all a greater idea of what living as a student in those times was like. Also included in this batch is a letter written by Rumple to Brother McLaughlin about an 1878 Concord Presbytery Meeting in Statesville, North Carolina.
This collection also includes various reports to and about Presbyterian Churches across the state. A few letters are addressed to synods, while others are reports on new developments within the church. There are also several notebooks, copybooks, and ledgers used by the church.
An 1855 receipt from Rural Hill Plantation promising payment of $50.12 due the next day.
Finally, DigitalNC also received folders of papers and documents about several Mecklenburg County plantations. Stretching from the 1820s to the 1860s, many of the folders contain financial records and receipts from Rural Hill, a plantation in Huntersville that was built in 1788 by Major John Davidson. There are also documents from his grandson, Adam Brevard Davidson, who later became a Trustee of Davidson College, and financial records, ledgers and booklets from the Mt. Tirzah Plantation in Lincoln County.
To browse through these materials, feel free to visit Davidson College’s partner page, or check out their website.
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.
