Thanks to funding from the Moore County Genealogical Society a variety of Moore County newspapers dating from 1923-1939 have just been added to DigitalNC. The titles include:

• Moore County News (Carthage, N.C.) 1923-1939
• Pinehurst Outlook 1923-1940
• Pinehurst Daily Press 1936-1937 and Sandhills News-Press 1937-1939

The Pinehurst Outlook is more like a magazine. It almost exclusively covers golf and news from other sports. It’s a handsome paper with custom mastheads and covers and a lot of photos, all reflective of the wealth brought to Pinehurst as a renowned golf destination and resort town. The Pinehurst Daily Press (which continues as the Sandhills News-Press) also heavily features sports news. Articles about PGA (Professional Golfers’ Association) tournaments, a listing of daily golf tee times, and updates on local golfers’ careers are some of the news items frequently included. The Moore County News is a paper covering broader local topics and a lot of syndicated content. There’s agriculture news like the “Annual Dewberry Special” issue. (A dewberry is similar to a blackberry.) Social and business news from Aberdeen, Carthage, and Cameron can be found as well.

One fun find was an article about a Moore County pastor named Rev. Wade C. Smith who created simple comics to illustrate Christian principles to his pupils. Dubbed “Litte Jetts,” the figures in the comics look a lot like Screen Beans, ubiquitous stick figures found in Microsoft clip art from the mid 1990s to around 2014. This article from the March 12, 1931 issue of The Moore County News talks about Smith’s work and its popularity, and includes the comic below.

Here’s another comic I could locate, from March 19, 1931. I’ve added a Screen Bean to the right for comparison.

To view more Moore County newspapers as well as other materials documenting that area visit the county page.

Another 40 newspaper titles up on DigitalNC this week! In this batch are many titles from all over the state (including nine from Rutherfordton) and a little local baseball history.

Featured in the May 5, 1902 issue of the Durham Daily Sun is the very first game of the Durham Tobacconists, the baseball team that would go on to become the Durham Bulls in 1913. While they lost their inaugural match to the Charlotte team 12-2, the author is optimistic and writes that “everything may soon be going their way.” They dropped out of the season two months later.

Durham Daily Sun, May 5, 1902

Durham Daily Sun, May 6, 1902

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

• The Charlotte Chronicle (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1886-1892
• The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1922

Durham

• Durham Daily Sun (Durham, N.C.) – 1889-1913
• The Durham Sun (Durham, N.C.) – 1911-1925

Elizabeth City

• The Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1914-1916
• The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1916-1919

Fayetteville

• Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1901-1919
• Fayetteville Daily Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1917-1920
• Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1920-1922

Gastonia

• The Gaston Gazette (Gastonia, N.C.) – 1880-1919
• The Daily Gazette (Gastonia, N.C.) – 1919
• Gastonia Daily Gazette (Gastonia, N.C.) – 1920-1921

High Point

• The High Point Enterprise (High Point, N.C.) – 1915-1919

Kinson

• The Evening Free Press (Kinston, N.C.) – 1900-1902

Oxford

• Oxford Public Ledger (Oxford, N.C.) – 1902

Plymouth

• Roanoke Cresset (Plymouth, N.C.) – 1859-1861

Raleigh

• Daily Sentinel (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1871

Roanoke Rapids

• Roanoke Rapids Herald (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) – 1914-1922

Rockingham

• The Southern Index (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1896
• The Richmond Rocket (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1884-1885
• Rockingham Rocket (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1885-1897
• Piedmont Dispatch (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1915-1917
• Rockingham Post-Dispatch (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1926-1959

Rutherford College

• The Pen and Plow (Rutherford College, N.C.) – 1881

Rutherfordton

• The Democrat (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1896
• The Western Vindicator (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1869
• The Rutherford Enquirer (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1860
• The Rutherford Banner (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1881-1887
• The Sun (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1903-1922
• The Rutherford Star (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1866-1872
• The Republican (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1844-1845
• Western North Carolina Republican (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1847
• Mountain Banner (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1848-1850

Southern Pines

• Sandhills Daily News (Southern Pines, N.C.) – 1936-1937
• Southern Pines Bulletin (Southern Pines, N.C.) – 1902

Southport

• The Southport Leader (Southport, N.C.) – 1890-1894

Troy

• The Montgomerian (Troy, N.C.) – 1908-1922

Wilmington

• The Commercial (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1846-1850
• The Tri-Weekly Commercial (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1850-1858

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.