This week we have another 40 newspaper titles and thousands of issues up on DigitalNC, including over 1,000 issues from The Messenger and Intelligencer from Wadesboro, the birthplace of Piedmont blues musician Blind Boy Fuller (read a brief biography about Fuller here). In this post we have some interesting new information regarding the blues legend’s birth!

Via John Edwards Memorial Foundation Records (PF-20001), Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library

Blind Boy Fuller was born Fulton Allen to parents Calvin Allen and Mary Jane Walker in Wadesboro, North Carolina, but the actual date of his birth is very much up for debate. The date of July 10 seems to be generally agreed upon, but the actual year tends to differ. While there are some sources that put it at 1904, folklorist Bruce Bastin puts Allen’s date of birth at July 10, 1907 based on statements from the North Carolina State Commission for the Blind, the Social Security Board, and the Durham County Welfare records. However, his 1941 death certificate states that he was 32 years old when he died, putting the year of his birth at 1908.

Rockingham Post-Dispatch, July 28, 1921

What we found makes things a little interesting. After the family relocated to Rockingham sometime in the early 1900s, his father posted a notice in the July 28, 1921 issue of the Rockingham Post-Dispatch that would suggest that none of these are accurate. The notice supports the idea of a July birthday but implies that, being 16 years old, he would have actually been born in 1905.

Bruce Bastin is the author of Red River Blues: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast and Early Masters of American Blues Guitar: Blind Boy Fuller with Stefan Grossman. The Bruce Bastin and Stefan Grossman Collections are housed here at UNC as part of the Southern Folklife Collection.

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:

Charlotte

• Daily Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1892-1893
• The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1921
• Beasley’s Farm and Home Weekly (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1945

Edenton

• Biblical Recorder and Journal of Passing Events (Edenton, N.C.) – 1834

Greensboro

• The Greensborough Patriot (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1865
• Greensboro Evening Telegram (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1898

High Point

• High Point Reporter (High Point, N.C.) – 1860

Lexington

• The Davidson Dispatch (Lexington, N.C.) – 1882

Milton

• The Milton Chronicle (Milton, N.C.) – 1882

New Bern

• The Biblical Recorder (New Bern, N.C.) – 1835-1837

Raleigh

• The Biblical Recorder and Southern Watchman (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1838-1841
• The Biblical Recorder (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1843-1903
• North Carolina Standard (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1868
• The Daily North Carolina Standard (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1868
• The Raleigh Student (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1924-1929
• North Carolina Christian Advocate (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1929-1930

Rocky Mount

• The Phoenix (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1889-1895
• The Rocky Mount Motor (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1900
• The Evening Telegram (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1921-1922
• Rocky Mount Weekly News (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1921-1922

Salem

• The People’s Press (Salem, N.C.) – 1860-1861

Salisbury

• The Rowan Whig and Western Advocate (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1855
• Republican Banner (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1856
• Daily Carolina Watchman (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1864-1865
• The Salisbury Press (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1888

Wadesboro

• The Messenger and Intelligencer (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1888-1919
• The Messenger and Intelligencer and Ansonian (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1919-1923

Wilmington

• The Daily Journal (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1852-1877
• Wilmington Journal (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1877

Winston

• Western Sentinel (Winston, N.C.) – 1857-1883
• The Twin-City Daily (Winston, N.C.) – 1885-1889
• The Winston Leader (Winston, N.C.) – 1885
• The Friend of Home (Winston, N.C.) – 1887
• The Winston Weekly Journal (Winston, N.C.) – 1897-1901
• The Twin-City Sentinel (Winston, N.C.) – 1892-1916
• The Union Republican (Winston, N.C.) – 1912-1922

Winston-Salem

• The Journal (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1898-1900
• The Daily Journal (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1900
• Winston-Salem Journal (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1902-1922
• Twin City Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1916-1923

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 40 titles up on DigitalNC! In this batch we have special editions of Morganton’s The News-Herald that detail the destruction caused to Western North Carolina by “The Great Flood of 1916.”

In July of 1916, two hurricanes hit Western Carolina within a week of each other. The first one came from the Gulf Coast and stalled over the region from the 8^th until the 10^th, and the second made landfall in South Carolina, reached the mountains on the 15^th, and dumped an astounding 22 inches of rain in a 24 hour period.

Asheville Grocery, 1916. Image via ourstate.com

After the storms had passed, the Swannanoa River was a mile wide, the French Broad was four times its normal width, there were over 300 landslides, and the town of Hendersonville was surrounded by a lake. At least 80 people died in the flooding, but since so many people lived in rural areas, the exact number is unknown.

July 18, 1916

July 19, 1916

July 20, 1916

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 Liberty Register (Liberty, N.C.) – 1899-1900
• The Kernersville News (Kernersville, N.C.) – 1883-1888
• Jonesboro Leader (Jonesboro, N.C.) – 1888-1892
• Daily Progress (New Bern, N.C.) – 1860
• The Graphic (Nashville, N.C.) – 1899-1925
• The Constitution (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1880
• The Union Labor Record (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1922-1937
• The Cottage Visitor (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1869
• Carolina Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1831-1832
• The Second Century (Albemarle, N.C.) – 1881
• The News-Herald (Morganton, N.C.) – 1902-1922
• The Greenville Index (Greenville, N.C.) – 1894
• Goldsboro Weekly Argus (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1914-1915
• The Albemarle Enquirer (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1886
• Murfreesboro Index (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1887-1896
• Piedmont Press (Hickory, N.C.) – 1873-1887
• The Hickory Press (Hickory, N.C.) – 1897-1900
• Randolph Regulator (Asheboro, N.C.) – 1876-1879
• The Randolph Sun (Asheboro, N.C.) – 1878
• North Carolina Bulletin (Asheboro, N.C.) – 1856-1857
• The New North State (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1871-1877
• Greensboro North State (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1886-1891
• The Daily Workman (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1885-1889
• Greensboro Telegram (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1910-1911
• The Weekly Index (Henderson, N.C.) – 1868-1869
• The Henderson Index (Henderson, N.C.) – 1870
• The Hustler (Henderson, N.C.) – 1899
• Evening Herald (Henderson, N.C.) – 1900
• The Henderson News (Henderson, N.C.) – 1887-1888
• The Vance Farmer (Henderson, N.C.) – 1892
• Henderson Daily Dispatch (Henderson, N.C.) – 1916-1923
• Albemarle Sentinel (Edenton, N.C.) – 1839-1840
• Carolina Miscellany (Edenton, N.C.) – 1832
• North-Carolina Miscellany (Edenton, N.C.) – 1833
• The Edenton Clarion (Edenton, N.C.) – 1880-1881
• Edenton Sentinel, and Albemarle Intelligencer (Edenton, N.C.) – 1841
• Albemarle Bulletin (Edenton, N.C.) – 1850-1851
• American Banner (Edenton, N.C.) – 1856
• The Express (Edenton, N.C.) – 1859
• Eastern Courier (Edenton, N.C.) – 1900

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.

This week’s additions include:

• Raleigh Christian Advocate (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1918-1919
• The Davidson Dispatch (Lexington, N.C.) – 1886-1902
• The Dispatch (Lexington, N.C.) – 1902-1922
• Carolina Messenger (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1869-1877
• Goldsboro Messenger (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1878-1883
• The Daily Capital (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1891
• The Daily Call (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1889-1896
• The Hayseeder (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1896-1898
• The Daily Dispatch (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1880
• Daily Morning Record (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1881
• Greensboro Evening Telegram (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1897-1900
• Greensboro Telegram (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1900-1910
• Greenville Daily News (Greenville, N.C.) – 1917-1920
• Greenville News (Greenville, N.C.) – 1920-1921
• North Carolina Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1888
• The Live Giraffe (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1852-1859
• The Democratic Press (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1859-1860
• The Daily Democratic Press (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1860
• Hale’s Weekly (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1879-1880
• The Golden Visitor (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1891
• State Prohibition Organ (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1881
• The Advertiser (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1893
• Beans (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1887
• Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1897-1900
• The Daily Press (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1894-1895
• The Press-Visitor (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1896
• The Times-Visitor (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1900
• The Raleigh Times and Evening Visitor (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1900
• Daily Industrial News (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1905-1909
• Carolina Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1816-1830
• The Franklin Times (Louisburg, N.C.) – 1879-1909
• The Topic (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1882
• The Lenoir Topic (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1882-1898
• The Western North Carolina Times (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1901-1923
• The Free Press (and Forest City Herald) (Forest City, N.C.) – 1915
• The Free Press (Forest City, N.C.) – 1916
• Forest City Courier (Forest City, N.C.) – 1924
• Everything (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1913-1918
• Davidson County News (Lexington, N.C.) – 1897-1898
• The Press and Carolinian (Hickory, N.C.) – 1893-1896
• The Lincoln County News (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1907-1918
• The Catawba County News (Newton, N.C.) – 1911
• The Franklin Press (Franklin, N.C.) – 1903-1906
• The Daily Workman (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1889-1891
• Greensboro Daily Workman (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1891-1892
• Goldsboro Weekly Argus (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1903-1905
• Asheville Daily Gazette (Asheville, N.C.) – 1897-1898
• Asheville Gazette-News (Asheville, N.C.) – 1910-1914
• The Asheville Times (Asheville, N.C.) – 1917
• The Old North State (Beaufort, N.C.) – 1865
• The Sampson Democrat (Clinton, N.C.) – 1892-1901
• The Concord Register (Concord, N.C.) – 1875-1885
• The Democratic Pioneer (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1850-1859
• The Patriot, and Greensborough Palladium (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1827-1829
• Greensborough Patriot (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1829-1836
• The Greensborough Patriot (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1839-1850
• The Greensboro Patriot (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1918-1922
• The Eagle (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1868-1875
• The Concord Sun (Concord, N.C.) – 1876-1877
• The American (Statesville, N.C.) – 1865-1869
• The Statesville American (Statesville, N.C.) – 1870-1886
• The Statesville American and Tobacco Journal (Statesville, N.C.) – 1881
• The Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1872-1890
• Economist and Falcon (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1894-1895
• Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1895-1897
• Asheville News (Asheville, N.C.) – 1851-1865
• The Asheville News and Western Farmer (Asheville, N.C.) – 1868
• The Asheville News and Mountain Farmer (Asheville, N.C.) – 1869
• The Randolph Bulletin (Asheboro, N.C.) – 1905-1915
• The Weekly Register (Asheville, N.C.) – 1884-1894
• The State Register (Asheville, N.C.) – 1895-1896
• The Asheville Register (Asheville, N.C.) – 1899-1900
• The Daily Sun (Asheville, N.C.) – 1888
• The Carthage Blade (Carthage, N.C.) – 1896-1907
• The Dunn Signboard (Dunn, N.C.) – 1887-1888
• The Harnett Courier (Dunn, N.C.) – 1888-1889
• Asheville Weekly Citizen (Asheville, N.C) – 1893-1894
• Asheville Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1894
• The Semi-Weekly Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1901
• The Clinton Reporter (Clinton, N.C.) – 1873-1874

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.