The Cherokee Scout, January 26, 1923, page 1

20 years of the Cherokee Scout, from Murphy, N.C., are now available online. Murphy Public Library, located in Cherokee County, is a new partner on DigitalNC and the first from the county. 

Cherokee Scout, July 27, 1923, page 4

Like many community newspapers, the Scout contains many stories of national importance, as well as local events and activities. The Scout documents and reflects stories of importance to the community, especially crop reports, sermons, humor, poetry, and serial stories. Newspapers like these are useful for researchers of all types as they are full of names, dates, and cultural data.

Murphy’s proximity to the Georgia border also offers information about that region– making this newspaper a unique resource for researchers interested in the economic and social links between North Carolina and Georgia mountain communities.

The Cherokee Scout is still an active newspaper with 9,600 readers. You can learn more about the history of this newspaper, it’s owners, and the happenings of this Western NC community by visiting the landing page.

To learn more about Murphy Public Library, please visit the contributor page or the website. Learn more about community newspaper and find information from your community by visiting the North Carolina Newspapers Collection.

Cherokee Scout, May 29, 1931, page 2

A 1930 illustration to celebrate that year’s July 4 anniversary

Courtesy of our partners, the Murphy Public Library and the Nantahala Regional Library, almost 30 more years of the Cherokee Scout have been newly digitized. That brings our collection to nearly 2500 issues, stretching from 1923-1971! These are brand new to DigitalNC and we are proud to present them. Published weekly, The Cherokee Scout serves Cherokee County, where it remains a staple to its readership of nearly 10,000.

A Nov. 1938 article announcing UNC President Graham’s visit to the local Murphy Library

Because of the long time-span of papers now in our collection, it is fascinating to see what sort of issues were being discussed throughout the community’s history. For example, in 1938, UNC’s President Dr. Frank Graham visited Murphy and toured the construction of the Hiwassee Dam and the village set up by the Tennessee Village Authority to bring electricity to the county. As World War II began a few years later, many men from the county enlisted in the different branches of service.

Later, in the 1950s, many of Cherokee County’s children were vaccinated for polio. Inventor Jonas Salk was written of very fondly in the Scout, as Cherokee County had to have numerous money drives for polio in the prior decade. Unusually for newspapers in North Carolina, the Scout also included news from Georgia, including market prices in Atlanta, due to its close proximity.

An April 1955 announcing polio vaccination treatments for local Cherokee County children

Having this newspaper in our collection brings us a wealth of valuable knowledge about how Cherokee County residents interpreted important events at the time and how they were affected. To browse through other materials from the Murphy Public Library and the Nantahala Regional Library, visit their partner pages, or visit their websites here.

This week we have another 60 titles from all over the state up on DigitalNC, including a little piece of North Carolina railroad history!

On the second page of the January 15^th, 1833 issue of the Fayetteville Observer, you’ll find a list of all the legislation enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly during the 1832-1833 session. One of these acts is the incorporation of the company that built North Carolina’s first functional railroad: The Experimental Rail Road Company of Raleigh.

Fayetteville Observer, January 15, 1833

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.

This week’s additions include:

• The North Carolina Prohibitionist (Bush Hill, N.C.) – 1886-1888
• The Progress (Enfield, N.C.) – 1908-1922
• The North-Carolina Journal (Halifax, N.C.) – 1792-1810
• The News Reporter (Littleton, N.C.) – 1897-1923
• The Franklin Courier (Louisburg, N.C.) – 1872-1874
• The Madison Enterprise (Madison, N.C.) – 1873-1874
• The Monroe Journal (Monroe, N.C.) – 1923
• The Iredell Gazette (Mooresville, N.C.) – 1880
• The Morganton Herald (Morganton, N.C.) – 1891-1901
• Surry Visitor (Mount Airy, N.C.) – 1874-1876
• Cherokee Herald (Murphy, N.C.) – 1874-1876
• Person County Courier (Roxboro, N.C.) – 1890-1892
• North Carolina Argus (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1848-1876
• Mecklenburg Times (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1889-1897
• The North Carolina Whig (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1863
• King’s Dollar Daily (Greenville, N.C.) – 1904
• King’s Weekly (Greenville, N.C.) – 1894-1909
• McDowell Democrat (Marion, N.C.) – 1905-1909
• Marion Progress (Marion, N.C.) – 1909-1922
• The Stanly Banner (Albemarle, N.C.) – 1876
• The Stanly Observer (Albemarle, N.C.) – 1884
• The Stanly News (Albemarle, N.C.) – 1892-1893
• The Caldwell Messenger (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1875-1876
• The Semi-Weekly News (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1900
• The Weekly News (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1900-1902
• The Magnolia Monitor (Magnolia, N.C.) – 1873-1876
• The Duplin Record (Magnolia, N.C.) – 1874-1875
• The Weekly Record (Magnolia, N.C.) – 1876-1877
• The Central (Lexington, N.C.) – 1876
• Lexington and Yadkin Flag (Lexington, N.C.) – 1855-1856
• The Lexington Herald (Lexington, N.C.) – 1915-1917
• The North State (Lexington, N.C.) – 1904-1908
• Murfreesboro Enquirer (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1876-1878
• The Albemarle Enquirer (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1878-1881
• The Hornets’ Nest (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1812-1813
• Carolina Chronicle (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1827
• Milton Intelligencer (Milton, N.C.) – 1819
• Milton Spectator (Milton, N.C.) – 1832-1839
• The Milton Chronicle (Milton, N.C.) – 1841-1888
• Milton Gazette & Roanoke Advertiser (Milton, N.C.) – 1824-1831
• The Milton Spectator (Milton, N.C.) – 1854
• The Lincoln Democrat (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1895-1896
• The Lincoln Journal (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1898-1901
• The Lincoln Courier (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1891
• Lincoln Transcript (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1836
• The Western Whig Banner (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1840
• Lincoln Progress (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1873-1882
• Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1903
• The Weekly Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1903-1905
• Daily Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1905-1907
• North Carolina Advocate (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1833
• The Intelligencer, and Nag’s Head Advocate (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1840-1841
• The Elizabeth-City Gazette, and Public Advertiser (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1808
• Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1833
• The Public Spirit (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1876
• The News (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1865
• The Fayetteville Daily News (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1865
• The Weekly Courier (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1860
• Fayetteville Examiner (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1880-1883
• Daily Telegraph (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1865

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 are sharing the second installment of titles on DigitalNC that were brought to us by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) in a cooperative effort with the North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries.

The NDNP is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress with the intention of creating a vast, searchable database of newspapers and other historical documents. You can currently search all of the NDNP issues on the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America website. Those same issues will be available on our newspaper database, allowing you to search that content alongside the other papers on DigitalNC.  The week’s titles are the following:

• Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) – 1888-1934
• Carolina Watchman (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1931-1937
• The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1848-1876
• The Charlotte Democrat (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1853-1887
• Weekly Standard (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1836-1858
• Marion Progress (Marion, N.C.) – 1930-1931
• The News and Views (Jacksonville, N.C.) – 1942-1952
• Fisherman & Farmer (Edenton, N.C.) – 1889-1901
• The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1877-1915
• The Free Press (Southern Pines, N.C.) – 1898-1905
• The Commonwealth (Scotland Neck, N.C.) – 1888
• The Review (High Point, N.C.) – 1910-1921
• Rockingham Post-Dispatch (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1917-1922
• French Broad Hustler (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1905-1919
• The Durham Daily Globe (Durham, N.C.) – 1887-1894
• The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1897-1908
• Journal of Freedom (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1865
• The Sun (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1883-1885
• The North-Carolinian (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1842-1857
• Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1941-1946
• The Robesonian (Lumberton, N.C.) – 1872-1918
• Western Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1886
• The State Chronicle (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1883-1892
• The Daily Caucasian (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1895
• The Gold Leaf (Henderson, N.C.) – 1882-1911
• The Caucasian (Clinton, N.C.) – 1884-1913
• The Durham Recorder (Durham, N.C.) – 1879-1911
• The Hillsborough Recorder (Hillsborough, N.C.) – 1836-1879
• Henderson Daily Dispatch (Henderson, N.C.) – 1932-1940
• Hillsboro Recorder (Hillsborough, N.C.) – 1887-1888
• The Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1935-1939
• The Lincoln Times (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1935-1962
• The Southern News (Asheville, N.C.) – 1938-1962
• Charlotte Messenger (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1882-1889
• The Weekly Intelligencer (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1864-1865
• The Educator (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1874-1875
• The Chapel Hill Weekly (Chapel Hill, N.C.) – 1930-1934
• Wilmington Journal (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1844-1876
• Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.) – 1890-1917
• The Daily Confederate (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1864-1865
• The Gazette (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1891-1898
• Our Living and Our Dead (New Bern, N.C.) – 1873-1874
• North Carolina Republican (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1880
• Weekly Confederate (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1864-1865
• The Monroe Journal (Monroe, N.C.) – 1903-1922
• The Journal of Industry (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1879-1880
• North Carolina Gazette (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1885
• The Skyland Post (West Jefferson, N.C.) – 1935-1947
• The Coastland Times (Manteo, N.C.) – 1951-1962
• The Burke County News (Morganton, N.C.) – 1899-1900
• The Fool-Killer (Boomer, N.C.) – 1910-1922
• Orange County Observer (Hillsborough, N.C.) – 1880-1916

This concludes the list of newspapers that we are sharing from the NDNP. 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.