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This map advertises some of the parks and wildlife of North Carolina
Thanks to our partner Granville County Public Library, we’ve added several yearbooks from Oxford, N.C. and Mebane, N.C., as well as a few maps, to our digital collection.
This map of North Carolina, called “An Outdoor and Tourist Guide to North Carolina,” was probably created to lure visitors to our brand-new parks; the text alongside it reads, “State Parks in North Carolina are still under development, and at present accommodations and facilities are not completed, except at Fort Macon State Park, Carteret County.” It also lists R. Bruce Etheridge as the director of the Department of Conservation and Development (he served from 1933-1949).
A map of an army plot in Granville County from 1943
Another notable addition is this army map, supposedly used to train troops to read French maps during World War II. Although it shows an area of Granville County near Mountain Creek Church, most of the text is in French.
The other maps show different versions of Henderson, N.C. (one from 1882). They also note the major roads and land owners.
The yearbooks from this batch are primarily from Black High Schools in Oxford, N.C., including Mary Potter High School (1947 and 1953) and Toler High School (1966 and 1967). The yearbooks feature slices of student life, including a personal inscription on the inside cover of the 1953 edition of “The Ram.”
Students in the Library Club at Mary Potter High School, 1953
The other two yearbooks are from Bingham School (Mebane, N.C.) from 1908 and Oxford College, 1921. To see our full collection of North Carolina yearbooks, click here. To see all materials from the Granville County Public library, visit their partner page.
A 1952 article about NC Governor W. Kerr Scott and Dr. Clyde Erwin, state superintendent of public instruction, visiting Macon County schools
Seventeen more years and over 10,000 more issues of The Franklin Press and Highlands Maconian newspaper have been newly digitized and put online on DigitalNC, with the help of our partner, the Fontana Regional Library. The Highlands Historical Society has also helped us with making these issues available for the public. While our collection previously only contained 1924-1942, we have nearly doubled the collection, with 1943-1960 now digitized online. Based out of Franklin in Macon County, the Franklin Press and Highlands Maconian was published weekly from 1932-1968.
A full issue in January 1944 wished servicemen victory in the coming year
Many of the newly digitized articles naturally deal with World War II, such as the snippet on the left of a January 1944 paper, which was wholly dedicated to wishing servicemen and soldiers victory in the coming year. After the war ended, the paper went back to its regular local and national coverage. For example, an article in 1955 detailed how excited the townspeople were of the forthcoming 1956 film The Great Locomotive Chase was being filmed in Franklin, Clayton, and Tallulah Falls.
With this new increase in pages from The Franklin Press and Highlands Maconian, DigitalNC becomes much closer to having the entire publication of the newspaper in our collection. To browse other materials from the Fontana Regional Library or the Highlands Historical Society, click on their partner pages, or visit their websites Fontana Regional Library and Highlands Historical Society here.
Thanks to our new partner, Macon County Public Library, several issues of the Franklin High School yearbook are now online! These issues of the Laurel Leaf span the years 1926-1969. These yearbooks are the first from Macon County and help expand our yearbook coverage of schools in the western part of North Carolina and shed light on what high school looked like in Franklin, NC during the middle of the 20th century.
Student Council at Franklin High School in the 1969 yearbook
The cover of the 1963 edition of the Laurel Leaf, from Franklin High School in Franklin, NC.
For more information about Macon County Public Library, visit their partner page here or visit their website.
Today we’re taking a look at the most-viewed items on DigitalNC.org for 2018. Yearbooks and newspapers are the most populous and popular items on our site, so it’s no surprise that they took four of the five slots. What rose to the top and why? Take a look below.
#1 Pertelote Yearbook, 1981
Contributing Institution: Brevard College
This year our most viewed single item on DigitalNC was the 1981 Pertelote yearbook from Brevard College.
The Pertelote was popular due to the apprehension of a mailbombing suspect in October of this year and his ties to several North Carolina schools. Cesar Sayoc was a student at Brevard College in the 1980s and his photograph can be found in several locations within the 1981 yearbook, including this club photo from page 134.
#2 The Outer Banks Fisherman
Contributing Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
On a lighter note, the second most popular item on our site was a film from the early 1980s entitled “The Outer Banks Fisherman.” It features Freshwater Bass Champion Roland Martin fishing on the Outer Banks. This film had a few particular days of internet popularity when it was mentioned on a couple of North Carolina hunting and fishing forums.
#3 North Wilkesboro Journal-Patriot Newspaper, December 8, 1941
Contributing Institution: Wilkes County Public Library
The third most popular single item on DigitalNC was the December 8, 1941 issue of the North Wilkesboro Journal-Patriot newspaper. You can tell from this striking headline that it was published the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. This paper generally received referrals via Google all year, but we’re not sure which search terms were leading users to this page so consistently.
#4 The Franklin Press and Highlands Maconian Newspaper, April 23, 1953, page 9
Contributing Institution: Fontana Regional Library
Many of our referrals come from Facebook, and that was the case with this fourth most popular item. It was featured in the Facebook Group “You May Be From Franklin NC If…” The original poster stated that Group members had looked for photos of the Old County Home over the years, and that they had recently uncovered this newspaper page which includes pictures of the Home’s state in 1953. 
#5 The Daily Tar Heel Newspaper, September 2, 1986
Contributing Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Facebook sharing also boosted this item’s rating, after the UNC-Chapel Hill University Archives asked for memories of the legal drinking age being raised to 21 in 1986 and the “send-0ff” on Franklin Street before the law came into effect. They shared a quote from a police officer as well as a link to the article below, which documents the damage and disgruntlement caused by the downtown party.
Thanks for coming on our tour of the top DigitalNC items from this year. For the curious, we topped 4 million pageviews and 400K users in 2018! We’re looking forward to working with partners to share even more of North Carolina’s cultural heritage in 2019.
The following microfilmed newspapers were selected for digitization in 2017-2018. Thanks to supplemental funding from the State Library of North Carolina, we were able to complete more reels than in previous years. Reels were chosen from nominations according to our Criteria for Selecting Newspapers to Digitize from Microfilm.
| Title |
Years |
Nominating Institution |
| Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.) |
1927-1947 |
Alamance County Public Libraries |
| Carolina Indian Voice (Pembroke, N.C.) |
1977-1995 |
UNC Chapel Hill |
| Carteret County News-Times (Morehead City, N.C.) |
1948-1960 |
Carteret County Public Library |
| Charlotte Post |
1971-1987 |
Johnson C. Smith University |
| The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.) |
1944-1988 |
Murphy Public Library |
| Duplin Times (Warsaw, N.C.) |
1962-1985 |
Duplin County Library |
| Enterprise (Williamston, N.C.) |
1934-1942 |
Martin Memorial Library |
| Farmville Enterprise |
1942-1947 |
Farmville Public Library |
| Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.) |
1943-1960 |
Fontana Regional Library |
| The Franklin Times (Louisburg, N.C.) |
1925-1944; 1963-1969 |
Louisburg College |
| Hertford County Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.) |
1914-1923 |
Chowan University |
| Journal-Patriot (North Wilkesboro, N.C.) |
1947-1950 |
Wilkes County Public Library |
| Mount Airy News |
1917-1929 |
Surry Community College |
| News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) |
1976-1988 |
Madison County Public Library |
| Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.) |
1944-1989 |
Perquimans County Library |
| Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.) |
1948-1965 |
Southern Pines Public Library |
| The Roxboro Courier (Roxboro, N.C.) |
1927-1935 |
Person County Public Library |
| Smithfield Herald |
1901-1911 |
Johnston County Heritage Center |
| Transylvania Times (Brevard, N.C.) |
1933-1940 |
Transylvania County Library |
| Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) |
1950-1963 |
Watauga County Public Library |
| Waynesville Mountaineer |
1952-1956 |
Haywood County Public Library |
| Winston-Salem Chronicle |
1997-2016 |
Forsyth County Public Library |
The following newspapers were digitized from microfilm in 2014.
