Here we have new papers from the North Carolina Collection that have never been microfilmed! The North Carolina Collection originated in 1844 and is the largest traditional collection of library materials for any state. Learn more about the NCC here!

These additions include:

• The Courier (Asheboro, N.C.) – 1917-1918
• The Randolph Herald (Asheborough, N.C.) – 1848
• The Daily Advance (Asheville, N.C.) – 1884
• The Mountain Voice (Bakersville, N.C.) – 1881
• Our Fatherless Ones (Barium Springs, N.C.) – 1903-1912
• The Blowing Rocket (Blowing Rock, N.C.) – 1942
• The Chapel Hillian (Chapel Hill, N.C.) – 1890-1891
• The Clarkton Express (Clarkton, N.C.) – 1907
• Recorder and North Carolina Tobacco Journal (Durham, N.C.) – 1883
• The Daily News (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1865
• Goldsboro Daily Argus (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1889-1892
• The Eastern Reflector (Greenville, N.C.) – 1898
• The Henderson Times (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1863
• The Western North Carolina Times (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1896
• The Daily Free Press (Kinston, N.C.) – 1908-1909
• The Laurinburg Enterprise (Laurinburg, N.C.) – 1881
• The Monroe Enquirer (Monroe, N.C.) – 1875-1881
• Ocracoke Island Beacon (Ocracoke, N.C.) – 1941
• The Orphans’ Friend and Masonic Journal (Oxford, N.C.) – 1881-1912
• The Church Intelligencer (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1862-1865
• The Menagerie (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1857
• The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1877
• The Friend and Templar (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1880
• Semi-Weekly Standard (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1865
• The Star, and North-Carolina State Gazette (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1818
• The Reidsville Times (Reidsville, N.C.) – 1882
• The Roanoke-Chowan Times (Rich Square, N.C.) – 1907-1910
• The Rockingham Rocket (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1887
• Salisbury Evening Post (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1906
• The Daily Union Banner (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1866
• Shelby Review (Shelby, N.C.) – 1893
• The Sandhill Citizen (Southern Pines, N.C.) – 1917
• The Daily Landmark (Statesville, N.C.) – 1879
• The Wadesboro Intelligencer (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1886
• The Dew Drop (Wadesborough, N.C.) – 1853
• The Colonist (Warm Springs, N.C.) – 1870-1871
• The Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1908
• Wilmington Chronicle (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1849
• The Wilmington Herald (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1854-1855
• Wilmington Journal (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1880-1894

This week we have another 70 titles up on DigitalNC including over 1,000 issues of The Robesonian, 1,000 issues of The Western Sentinel, 3,000 issues of The Reidsville Review, 4,000 issues of The News and Observer, and almost 4,000 issues of the Salisbury Evening Post!

In the March 8th, 1914 issue of The News and Observers we have an article detailing a practice game played by the Baltimore Orioles while in Fayetteville. This happens to be the game where a 19 year old George Herman “Babe” Ruth hit his first home run as a professional baseball player. Ruth was also given his iconic nickname “Babe” while in Fayetteville on this trip.

The News and Observer, March 8th, 1914

Image via The Fayetteville Observer

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:

Asheboro

• Asheboro Courier (Asheboro, N.C.) – 1902

Asheville

• Asheville Daily Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1891-1900
• The Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1900
• Asheville Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1906-1907

Belhaven

• Belhaven Journal (Belhaven, N.C.) – 1916-1923
• Beaufort-Hyde News (Belhaven, N.C.) – 1966-1980

Brevard

• Brevard News (Brevard, N.C.) – 1917

Charlotte

• Daily Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1893-1897

Cherryville

• The Eagle (Cherryville, N.C.) – 1915-1919

Clayton

• The Clayton News (Clayton, N.C.) – 1914-1966

Concord

• The Bright Mason (Concord, N.C.) – 1873-1874

Cooleemee

• The Cooleemee Journal (Cooleemee, N.C.) – 1956-1962

Creedmoor

• Creedmoor Times-News (Creedmoor, N.C.) – 1913-1914

Durham

• The Morning Herald (Durham, N.C.) – 1913-1914

East Bend

• The Yadkin Ripple (East Bend, N.C.) – 1902

Elizabeth City

• The Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1916
• The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1916-1917

Forest City

• The Free Press (Forest City, N.C.) – 1913

Gastonia

• The Gastonia Gazette (Gastonia, N.C.) – 1908

Goldsboro

• Goldsboro Daily Argus (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1905-1920

Greenville

• King’s Weekly (Greenville, N.C.) – 1903-1905

Kenly

• The Kenly Observer (Kenly, N.C.) – 1927

Leaksville

• Leaksville Herald (Leaksville, N.C.) – 1861

Lenoir

• The Semi-Weekly News (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1900
• The Weekly News (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1902-1905
• The Lenoir Weekly News (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1905-1915
• The Lenoir News (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1906, 1914-16

Lincolnton

• Lincoln Progress (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1874
• The Lincoln Journal (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1903-1906

Lumberton

• The Robesonian (Lumberton, N.C.) – 1903-1923

Mocksville

• The Davie Times (Mocksville, N.C.) – 1902

Mooresville

• The Mooresville Enterprise (Mooresville, N.C.) – 1901-1902

Moravian Falls

• The Yellow-Jacket (Moravian Falls, N.C.) – 1928

New Bern

• The Sun (New Bern, N.C.) – 1911

Raleigh

• The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1906-1923

Red Springs

• The Farmer and Scottish Chief (Red Springs, N.C.) – 1890

Reidsville

• The Weekly Review (Reidsville, N.C.) – 1889-1899
• The Reidsville Review (Reidsville, N.C.) – 1899-1923

Rocky Mount

• Rocky Mount Mail (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1875-1876

Rutherfordton

• The Sun (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1911

Salisbury

• Salisbury Evening Post (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1905-1923
• Salisbury Post (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1908-1912
• Yadkin Valley Herald (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1918-1919

Selma

• The Johnstonian (Selma, N.C.) – 1925

Shelby

• The Cleveland Star (Shelby, N.C.) – 1902-1904
• The Highlander (Shelby, N.C.) – 1912-1920

Smithfield

• Johnston County Record (Smithfield, N.C.) – 1933-1934
• The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.) – 1977

Spruce Pines & Burnsville

• The Tri-County News (Spruce Pine & Burnsville, N.C.) – 1940

Statesville

• Statesville Landmark (Statesville, N.C.) – 1874-1875
• The Landmark (Statesville, N.C.) – 1875-1903
• The Statesville American (Statesville, N.C.) – 1878
• The Statesville Mascot (Statesville, N.C.) – 1902

Taylorsville

• The Mountain Scout (Taylorsville, N.C.) – 1902-1906

Washington

• Washington Dispatch (Washington, N.C.) – 1861
• The North State Press (Washington, N.C.) – 1880
• The Washington Gazette (Washington, N.C.) – 1884-1887
• The Evening Messenger (Washington, N.C.) – 1896-1899
• The Gazette-Messenger (Washington, N.C.) – 1900-1904
• Washington Progress (Washington, N.C.) – 1930-1931

Waynesville

• Waynesville Courier (Waynesville, N.C.) – 1914-1915
• The Carolina Mountaineer and Waynesville Courier (Waynesville, N.C.) – 1921

Wilmington

• Wilmington Weekly Chronicle (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1840-1841
• Wilmington Chronicle (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1841-1845
• The Daily Journal (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1851-1852
• The Daily Wilmington Herald (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1866

Windsor

• Windsor Ledger (Windsor, N.C.) – 1913

Winston-Salem

• The Western Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1903-1922
• Twin City Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1922

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 tens of thousands of issues up on DigitalNC! In this batch we have over 1,000 issues of The High Point Enterprise and Lenoir News-Topic, more than 4,000 issues of The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer, 5,000 issues of the Goldsboro Daily Argus, over 5,500 issues of The Kinston Free Press, 7,000 issues of the Asheville Citizen, and more!

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:

Asheville

• The Daily Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1889
• The Asheville Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1889
• Asheville Daily Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1891-1899
• Asheville Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1900-1922

Charlotte

• The Charlotte Journal (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1835-1851
• The Charlotte News (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1892
• Charlotte Daily Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1911-1916
• The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1916-1922
• The Charlotte Chronicle (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1891
• Semi-Weekly Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1892
• Weekly Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1892

Concord

• The Sun (Concord, N.C.) – 1881-1882

Davidson

• The Davidsonian (Davidson, N.C.) – 1921-1926

Durham

• The Morning Herald (Durham, N.C.) – 1913-1919
• Durham Morning Herald (Durham, N.C.) – 1919-1921

Edenton

• The Edenton Gazette, and North-Carolina General Advertiser (Edenton, N.C.) – 1818

Elizabeth City

• Tar Heel (Elizabeth City N.C.) – 1911
• The Weekly Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1911-1913
• The Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1913
• The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1919-1923

Elkin

• The Elkin Times (Elkin, N.C.) – 1895-1897

Fayetteville

• The American (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1814-1818
• Fayetteville Gazette (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1820-1822

Gastonia

• Gastonia Daily Gazette (Gastonia, N.C.) – 1922

Goldsboro

• Goldsboro Daily Argus (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1885-1922

Graham

• The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.) – 1896-1910

Greensboro

• Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1921

Halifax

• Halifax Compiler (Halifax, N.C.) – 1818

Hickory

• Hickory Mercury (Hickory, N.C.) – 1892-1897
• The Hickory Times (Hickory, N.C.) – 1896
• The Times-Mercury (Hickory, N.C.) – 1898

High Point

• The High Point Enterprise (High Point, N.C.) – 1918-1922

Kinston

• The Daily Free Press (Kinston, N.C.) – 1898-1923
• The Kinston Free Press (Kinston, N.C.) – 1899-1923

Lenoir

• The Caldwell Messenger (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1875-1876
• The Lenoir Topic (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1876-1919
• The Lenoir News, and The Lenoir Topic (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1919
• Lenoir News-Topic (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1919-1924
• The Semi-Weekly News (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1898

Raleigh

• The News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1880-1890
• The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1906-1914

Shelby

• The Cleveland Star (Shelby, N.C.) – 1905-1923

Wilmington

• Wilmington Chronicle (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1845-1851
• The Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1922

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 60 titles up on DigitalNC! While these papers cover all of North Carolina, almost one third are from Statesville alone!

In the October 3^rd, 1902 issue of Elizabeth City’s Tar Heel, there is an interview with Reginald Aubrey Fessenden’s assistant, Professor Saint Marie. Fessenden was a pioneer in early radio, or “wireless telegraphy,” and was conducting experiments at Manteo on Roanoke Island. In the interview, Prof. Saint Marie seems somewhat pessimistic about the process and its possibilities, which might be due to Fessenden abruptly ending their contract with the Weather Bureau the previous month after conflict arose over ownership of the patent.

Tar Heel, October 3, 1902

However, less than two months later The News and Observer reported that Fessenden’s invention had greatly improved and could now send transmissions to Washington, D.C. On Christmas Eve, 1906, he conducted the first radio broadcast by reading a bible verse and then playing ‘O Holy Night’ on his violin for the ships off the coast of Massachusetts. By 1909, according the the Charlotte Evening Observer, he had perfected the process for which he laid the foundation on the Carolina coast.

News and Observer, November 23, 1902

Evening Chronicle, April 14, 1909

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:

Elizabeth City

• Tar Heel (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1901-1910

Moravian Falls

• The Yellow-Jacket (Moravian Falls, N.C.) – 1895-1928

North Wilkesboro

• The North Wilkesboro Hustler (North Wilkesboro, N.C.) – 1906-1926
• North Wilkesboro News (North Wilkesboro, N.C.) – 1893-1896

Oxford

• The Leisure Hour (Oxford, N.C.) – 1858-1861
• The News of Oxford (Oxford, N.C.) – 1889
• Oxford Banner (Oxford, N.C.) – 1911
• The Granville Whig (Oxford, N.C.) – 1850
• Granville County Reformer (Oxford, N.C.) – 1894
• The Oxford Mercury (Oxford, N.C.) – 1843
• The Oxford Mercury, and District Telegraph (Oxford, N.C.) – 1843-1844
• The Oxford Leader (Oxford, N.C.) – 1875

Pittsboro

• The Communicator (Pittsboro, N.C.) – 1847
• Central Reflector (Pittsboro, N.C.) – 1833
• The Home (Pittsboro, N.C.) – 1887-1889

Rutherfordton

• West-Carolina Record (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1873-1874
• The Rutherford Star and West-Carolina Record (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1874-1875

Salem

• The Farmers’ Reporter (Salem, N.C.) – 1832-1834
• The Farmers’ Reporter and Rural Repository (Salem, N.C.) – 1835-1836
• Carolina Gazette (Salem, N.C.) – 1841

Salisbury

• The Evening World (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1895-1898
• Weekly World (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1895-1896
• Salisbury News (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1878
• The Salisbury Press (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1888
• The Tribune (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1872
• The Daily Gazette (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1865
• The Rowan Whig and Western Advocate (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1852-1855
• The Salisbury Herald (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1855-1857
• The Weekly Jubilee (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1852
• The Prohibitionist (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1881
• Salisbury Weekly Sun (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1897-1904
• Salisbury Globe (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1904-1905
• The Salisbury Daily Index (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1899-1900
• Salisbury Daily Truth-Index (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1900-1901
• Daily Herald (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1891-1896
• North Carolina Herald (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1885-1898
• The Industrial Record (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1899

Selma

• The Johnstonian (Selma, N.C.) – 1926

Shelby

• The Mountain Eagle (Shelby, N.C.) – 1861
• Shelby Review (Shelby, N.C.) – 1892

Siler City

• The Siler City Grit (Siler City, N.C.) 1905-1920

Smithfield

• The Weekly Herald (Smithfield, N.C.) – 1883
• The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.) – 1885-1900

Statesville

• The Mascot (Statesville, N.C.) – 1897-1899
• The Statesville Mascot (Statesville, N.C.) – 1899-1901
• The Evening Mascot (Statesville, N.C.) – 1908-1909

Stonewall

• The Pamlico Enterprise (Stonewall, N.C.) – 1882-1884

Tarboro

• Tarboro’ Press (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1845-1847

Taylorsville

• The Mountain Scout (Taylorsville, N.C.) – 1913-1916

Wadesboro

• The Pee Dee Star (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1854

Warrenton

• The Centennial (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1876
• The Semi-Weekly News (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1856-1857
• Warrenton News (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1850-1861

Washington

• The Weekly Express (Washington, N.C.) – 1873
• Washington Gazette, and Weekly Advertiser (Washington, N.C.) – 1807-1808
• Freeman’s Echo (Washington, N.C.) – 1829
• The New Era (Washington, N.C.) – 1862-1863
• The North State Press (Washington, N.C.) – 1878-1881

Wilson

• The Plaindealer (Wilson, N.C.) – 1869-1873

Windsor

• The Albemarle Press (Windsor, N.C.) – 1874-1876

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.

Thanks to our partner Cleveland County Memorial Library and support from the North Caroliniana Society, issues of The Shelby Daily Star from 1923 to 1936 and 1945 are now available on our website.

Originally named the Shelby Review, the newspaper has provided Shelby, North Carolina with local and national news since 1894. Since its first issue, the paper has gone through several name changes. In the late 1890s, the name was changed to the Cleveland Star, which it remained until 1936 when it was then changed to The Shelby Daily Star. After nearly 50 years, the paper was renamed to The Shelby Star in 1984. In 1998, the paper was renamed a final time to The Star, which it still goes by today.

New York City’s Time Square VE Day Celebration, May 7, 1945.

Two particularly interesting articles from this paper come from 1945 on Victory in Europe (May 8) and Victory Over Japan (August 15) Day. Instead of just providing information on the celebrations of the end of the war in large cities such as New York City, these articles provide the reader with a unique and interesting look into how small towns such as Shelby celebrated VE and VJ Day.

Victory Over Japan Day, August 15, 1945

Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945

As the May 8th article mentions, Victory in Europe Day was “celebrated calmly and prayerfully in Shelby,” with no “boisterous noise-making like that which marked the close of World War I.”  Many people in the town congregated in churches and auditoriums to sing and pray.

The Victory Over Japan Day article on August 15 presents a different scene in the Town of Shelby. After Japan’s surrender was announced, the courthouse square in Shelby, “was a rootin’ tootin’, yelling, laughing, crying mixture of hilariously happy folk and overloaded automobiles. […] The celebration continued far into the night, and business was at a standstill today with stores, banks, and public buildings closed. Most industrial plants closed down last night soon after the victory signal was received.” Other articles discussing the war and the effects it had on the town can be found in the 1945 issues of the newspaper.

To learn more about the Cleveland County Memorial Library, please visit their website.

To view more newspapers from across North Carolina, please visit our newspapers collection.