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34 Newspaper Titles up on DigitalNC!

Headmast for May 5, 1881 issue of Railroad Ticket from Weldon, N.C.

This week we have another 34 titles up on DigitalNC! In this batch we have an article from the Durham Tobacco Plant describing the construction of a new factory being built by W. Duke, Sons & Co., which contained a machine that would revolutionize their tobacco business: The Bonsack machine.

Clipping from July 16, 1884 issue of Durham Tobacco Plant detailing the construction of a new Duke Tobacco factory, including the Bonsack cigarette rolling machine.

Durham Tobacco Plant, July 16, 1884

In 1881, Virginia native James Bonsack created the first industrial cigarette rolling machine, a task that was done meticulously by hand up until this point. Bonsack partnered with W. Duke, Sons & Co. in 1884 and supplied them with one of his machines that could roll 250,000 cigarettes in a single day, the equivalent of 48 employees. While this acquisition would make the Dukes the leading cigarette producer in the country, the automation of the process forced many skilled rollers out of work.

Factory built by W. Duke, Sons & Co. in 1884

W. Duke, Sons & Co. 1884 factory. Image via opendurham.org

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:

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.


70 Newspaper titles from Fayetteville, Leaksville, Milton, and more!

Title for December 24, 1868 issue of The Old North State from Salisbury, N.C.

This week we have another 70 newspapers up on DigitalNC! These titles span 32 towns and almost as many counties! This batch also includes our first additions from the towns of Waco, Pores Knob, La Grange, Leaksville, Mount Olive, and Manson!

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:

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.


Over 600 Issues of the Mount Airy News Now Online at DigitalNC

A May 1926 edition of the Mount Airy News. Articles include a local citizen celebrating their 90th birthday and information about Mount Airy High School

Twelve years and over 600 issues of the Mount Airy News have been digitized and added to DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner, Surry Community College. These scans are brand new, with DigitalNC now containing March 1917 through September 1929. While the Mount Airy News is now published six days a week, the newspaper was only published once a week at this point in time. The Mount Airy News services Mount Airy and Surry County, and joins fellow Surry County newspapers including the Chatham Blanketeer and the Elkin Tribune.

An article announcing a meeting between NC Governor Morrison and VA Governor Trinkle

Looking through the Mount Airy News today, we can learn a lot about what concerned the people of Surry County nearly a hundred years ago. In one October, 1922 issue, the main headline was a meeting between North Carolina Governor Cameron Morrison and Virginia Governor Elbert Lee Trinkle to talk about building roads between Mount Airy and the nearby towns of Sparta, NC, and Stuart, VA, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Mount Airy. Looking through the pages, we can see praise for local teachers and school board members, an article about local farmers joining a cooperative association, and an editorial piece denouncing women who are uninformed voters, when they recently earned the right to suffrage.

Reading these articles gives us an idea of what life was like in Surry County and Mount Airy at the time, and it is invaluable to us. To browse through other materials from Surry Community College, take a look at their partner page, or check out their website.


Newspapers Selected for Digitization, 2017-2018

The following microfilmed newspapers were selected for digitization in 2017-2018. Thanks to supplemental funding from the State Library of North Carolina, we were able to complete more reels than in previous years. Reels were chosen from nominations according to our Criteria for Selecting Newspapers to Digitize from Microfilm.

Title Years Nominating Institution
Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.) 1927-1947 Alamance County Public Libraries
Carolina Indian Voice (Pembroke, N.C.) 1977-1995 UNC Chapel Hill
Carteret County News-Times (Morehead City, N.C.) 1948-1960 Carteret County Public Library
Charlotte Post 1971-1987 Johnson C. Smith University
The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.) 1944-1988 Murphy Public Library
Duplin Times (Warsaw, N.C.) 1962-1985 Duplin County Library
Enterprise (Williamston, N.C.) 1934-1942 Martin Memorial Library
Farmville Enterprise 1942-1947 Farmville Public Library
Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.) 1943-1960 Fontana Regional Library
The Franklin Times (Louisburg, N.C.) 1925-1944; 1963-1969 Louisburg College
Hertford County Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.) 1914-1923 Chowan University
Journal-Patriot (North Wilkesboro, N.C.) 1947-1950 Wilkes County Public Library
Mount Airy News 1917-1929 Surry Community College
News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) 1976-1988 Madison County Public Library
Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.) 1944-1989 Perquimans County Library
Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.) 1948-1965 Southern Pines Public Library
The Roxboro Courier (Roxboro, N.C.) 1927-1935 Person County Public Library
Smithfield Herald 1901-1911 Johnston County Heritage Center
Transylvania Times (Brevard, N.C.) 1933-1940 Transylvania County Library
Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) 1950-1963 Watauga County Public Library
Waynesville Mountaineer 1952-1956 Haywood County Public Library
Winston-Salem Chronicle 1997-2016 Forsyth County Public Library

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