This week we have another 24 titles up on DigitalNC, including one of the state’s oldest papers: The State Gazette of North-Carolina!

The State Gazette was founded by Abraham Hodge and Andrew Blanchard in 1785. Hodge, born 1755 in the colony of New York, worked as a patriot printer during the American Revolution and even operated George Washington’s traveling press at Valley Forge in 1778. While stationed there, he printed official orders, commissions, and recruitment posters for the Continental Army. Seeking a warmer climate after the war, Hodge relocated to Halifax, N.C., where he would go on to own printing presses in Edenton, Halifax, Fayetteville, and New Bern. In addition to newspapers, he was named printer of the North Carolina General Assembly and printed the state’s laws in 1786. He was also one of the first people to contribute to the library of The University of North Carolina.

March 5, 1795 issue of The State Gazette of North-Carolina. Less than a month after The University of North Carolina opened its doors to students.

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 Daily Bulletin (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1862-1863
• Goldsboro Messenger (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1880-1887
• The Greensborough Patriot (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1851-1856
• The Patriot and Flag (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1857-1858
• The Greensborough Patriot (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1858-1868
• The Patriot and Times (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1868
• The Little Ad (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1860
• The North Carolina Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1878-1880
• The State Gazette of North-Carolina (New Bern, N.C.) – 1787-1796
• The Chatham Record (Pittsboro, N.C.) – 1912-1914
• Eastern Courier (Hertford, N.C.) – 1897-1898
• Economist and Falcon (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1891-1893
• Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1900-1902
• The Standard (Concord, N.C.) – 1896-1899
• The Daily Standard (Concord, N.C.) – 1892
• The Concord Times (Concord, N.C.) – 1910-1912
• The Evening Tribune (Concord, N.C.) – 1906-1907
• The Concord Daily Tribune (Concord, N.C.) – 1912-1923
• The Davie Record (Mocksville, N.C.) – 1919-1920
• The Anglo-Saxon (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1899-1901
• Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1896
• The Reporter and Post (Danbury, N.C.) – 1882-1884
• The Danbury Reporter-Post (Danbury, N.C.) – 1884-1891
• The Danbury Reporter (Danbury, N.C.) – 1894-1917

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.

We have over 60 titles up on DigitalNC this week! While these papers are from all over North Carolina, about a third are from western Carolina. 18 from Asheville, one from Morganton, as well as our first additions from Bryson City and Bakersville! Bakersville, which gives us The Mountain Voice, only has a population of 466, but is home to the North Carolina Rhododendron Festival. Started in 1947, the festival was a relatively small affair until Spruce Pine resident O.D. Calhoun came into the picture. Calhoun owned several movie theaters across North Carolina and apparently had contacts to Walt Disney. He used these connections to promote the festival and make it into a nationally renowned event. It’s estimated that between five and ten thousand people attended the festival when Richard Nixon made an appearance in 1958.

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 Blue Ridge Blade (Morganton, N.C.) – 1876-1881
• North Carolina Advertiser (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1865
• Carolina Beacon and Metropolitan Omnibus (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1840
• Republican Touchstone (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1840
• North-Carolina Statesman (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1854
• The Independent (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1843-1845
• Democratic Flag (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1848
• The American Signal (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1856
• The Daily Telegraph (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1862
• Weekly Ad Valorem Banner (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1861
• Daily Ad Valorem Banner (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1861
• The National Democrat (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1860
• The Randolph Bulletin (Asheboro, N.C.) – 1910-1912
• The Asheboro Courier (Asheboro, N.C.) – 1918-1921
• Asheville Semi-Weekly Journal (Asheville, N.C.) – 1879
• The Western Tribune (Asheville, N.C.) – 1885
• Mountain Home-Journal (Asheville, N.C.) – 1892
• The Asheville Advertiser (Asheville, N.C.) – 1890
• The Buncombe Reformer (Asheville, N.C.) – 1893
• The Skyland Herald (Asheville, N.C.) – 1886
• The Evening Journal (Asheville, N.C.) – 1889
• Asheville Spectator (Asheville, N.C.) – 1853-1858
• Town Topics (Asheville, N.C.) – 1887
• The Daily Advance (Asheville, N.C.) – 1884-1885
• Asheville Daily Advance (Asheville, N.C.) – 1885-1887
• The Asheville Advance (Asheville, N.C.) – 1887-1888
• The Asheville Register (Asheville, N.C.) – 1901-1905
• The State Reporter (Asheville, N.C.) – 1896
• The Smoky Mountain Times (Bryson City, N.C.) – 1895-1896
• Sylvan Valley News (Brevard, N.C.) – 1916
• The Weekly Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1890
• Asheville Weekly Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1890-1892
• The Albemarle Press (Albemarle, N.C.) – 1922-1925
• The Bayboro Sentinel (Bayboro, N.C.) – 1902-1913
• Columbian Repository (Chapel Hill, N.C.) – 1836
• The Chapel Hillian (Chapel Hill, N.C.) – 1891
• The Harbinger (Chapel Hill, N.C.) – 1833-1834
• Orange County Independent (Chapel Hill, N.C.) – 1894
• The Independent (Chapel Hill, N.C.) – 1894
• The Chapel Hill Weekly Gazette (Chapel Hill, N.C.) – 1857
• Chapel Hill Literary Gazette (Chapel Hill, N.C.) – 1857-1858
• The Chapel Hill Gazette (Chapel Hill, N.C.) – 1858
• Burke County Times (Morganton, N.C.) – 1917-1918
• The Morning Post (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1898
• North Carolina Temperance Union (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1842
• The Southern Advertiser, and Appendix to the “Southern Weekly Post” (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1853
• Democratic State Flag (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1848
• The Deaf Mute (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1850
• North Carolina State Advertiser (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1871
• The Mercury (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1864
• The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1919
• The Post (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1869
• Western Carolina Advocate (Asheville, N.C.) – 1892-1983
• Daily Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1886
• North Carolina Christian Advocate (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1912-1917
• The Cape-Fear Recorder (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1816-1829
• The High Point Enterprise (High Point, N.C.) – 1886
• Asheville Gazette-News (Asheville, N.C.) – 1914
• The Mountain Voice (Bakersville, N.C.) – 1880
• The Daily Bulletin (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1859-1876
• The Evening Bulletin (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1880

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.