This week we have the final 35 newspaper titles for this project up on DigitalNC! Over the past 11 months we have uploaded over 2.4 million pages of North Carolina newspapers – bringing our total number of newspaper pages on DigitalNC to 4,175,076 and our total number of titles on DigitalNC to 1,161 – all freely available to anyone! In this closing batch we have our first paper from Bower, North Carolina (which you may know as Clemmons today) and an article in the Union Republican about Stokes County’s would be Wright brother: Jacob A. Hill.

Jacob Hill, Winston-Salem Journal, March 9, 1902

Before Orville and Wilbur’s iconic first flight in 1903, the race to create a manned flying machine was fiercely competitive. One of the contenders was a man from Vade Mecum Springs named Jacob Hill. Hill was born 1862 in Davie County and had been fascinated by the flight of birds ever since he was a child. In 1901 he decided to take that curiosity a little further and solve “the problem of aerial navigation” by building his own dirigible.

Mr. Hill’s machine could have been the first piloted aircraft, but we’ll never know for sure if it could actually fly and be controlled. Momentum ran out when Hill couldn’t secure funding for his invention. According to Thomas Parramore’s First to Fly, witnesses claimed the craft could get off the ground, but couldn’t do much more than hover in place. Even though Hill’s airship became something of a local joke for a time, the legacy of his wild aspirations continues to live on in North Carolina history.

Over the past year, we’ve added 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, we have made 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:

Belhaven

• The Belhaven Pilot (Belhaven, N.C.) – 1948-1957

Bower

• The Olive Leaf (Bower, N.C.) – 1904

Charlotte

• The Weekly Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1886

Greensboro

• The Daily Workman (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1883
• The Greensboro Review (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1881
• The Guilford Herald (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1896

Kings Mountain

• The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.) – 1914-1919

Kinston

• The Daily Free Press (Kinston, N.C.) – 1920-1922

Lenoir

• The Lenoir Topic (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1890-1894

Monroe

• The Monroe Express (Monroe, N.C.) – 1881
• The Monroe Register (Monroe, N.C.) – 1890

Mt. Airy

• The Mt. Airy Watchman (Mt. Airy, N.C.) – 1880
• The Mt. Airy Times (Mt. Airy, N.C.) – 1876-1877

New Bern

• The Republic and Courier (New Bern, N.C.) – 1872-1874
• The True Republican, and Newbern Weekly Advertiser (New Bern, N.C.) – 1810-1811
• The Morning Herald (New Bern, N.C.) – 1807-1808
• Newbern Herald (New Bern, N.C.) – 1809-1810
• The North Carolina Circular, and Newbern Weekly Advertiser (New Bern, N.C.) – 1803-1805
• The Daily Herald (New Bern, N.C.) – 1868
• The Republican & Courier (New Bern, N.C.) – 1871
• Newbern Enquirer (New Bern, N.C.) – 1860
• The Daily Journal (New Bern, N.C.) – 1894
• New Berne Daily Journal (New Bern, N.C.) – 1894-1895

Salem

• The Farmers’ Reporter (Salem, N.C.) – 1832
• The Salem Observer (Salem, N.C.) – 1867

Salisbury

• North Carolina Herald (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1885-1888

Shelby

• The Highlander (Shelby, N.C.) – 1914-1919
• The Aurora-Highlander (Shelby, N.C.) – 1917

Statesville

• Statesville Christian Advocate (Statesville, N.C.) – 1887-1890

Swan Quarter

• The Hyde County Herald (Swan Quarter, N.C.) – 1941-1956

Taylorsville

• The Mountain Scout (Taylorsville, N.C.) – 1907-1917

Warrenton

• The Indicator (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1867-1868

Winston

• The Union Republican (Winston, N.C.) – 1874-1918
• The Twin-City Daily (Winston, N.C.) – 1889

Winston-Salem

• The Twin-City Daily Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1916

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 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 another 34 titles up on DigitalNC! While this batch focuses heavily on newspapers from Hendersonville, Goldsboro, and Greensboro, it also includes Fayetteville, Henderson, Albemarle, Clinton, Burlington, and our first addition from Bush Hill. Bush Hill (renamed Archdale in 1886) was home to the Annie Florence Petty, who was the first professionally educated and trained librarian in the state of North Carolina. Petty (born 1871) was a founding member of the North Carolina Library Association and, in keeping with her Quaker upbringing, she was also the first secretary of the North Carolina Friends Historical Society. After her prosperous, four-decade long career building the library at the North Carolina State Normal and Industrial School (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) and other libraries across the state, she retired in 1933 and moved into the family home she shared with her equally successful, chemist sister, Mary Petty.

Mary (left) and Annie Petty in 1952. Image via uncghistory.blogspot.com

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 News Dispatch (Clinton, N.C.) – 1909-1917
• The North Carolina Prohibitionist (Bush Hill, N.C.) – 1886-1888
• The Observer and Gazette (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1885-1887
• The Stanly Enterprise (Albemarle, N.C.) – 1898-1902
• The Twice-A-Week Dispatch (Burlington, N.C.) – 1913
• Border Review (Henderson, N.C.) – 1879-1880
• The Tobacconist and Review (Henderson, N.C.) – 1881
• The Henderson County Advertiser (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1874
• The Henderson Times (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1864
• The Western Courier (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1878
• Independent Herald (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1881-1882
• The Hendersonville News (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1921-1922
• The Daily Rough Notes (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1861
• Goldsboro’ Daily Rough Notes (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1868
• Goldsboro’ Telegraph (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1850
• North Carolina Telegraph (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1850-1855
• Goldsboro’ Tribune (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1862
• Goldsboro’ Patriot (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1849
• The New Era (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1853-1855
• The Goldsboro Bulletin (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1883-1884
• The Daily News (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1865
• Goldsboro’ Daily News (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1866
• Goldsboro Mail (Goldsboro N.C.) – 1879
• Daily Morning Star (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1867
• The Republican (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1870
• Daily Southern Citizen (Greensboro, N.C.) -1864
• The Topic (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1869
• Greensboro Union Register (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1869
• The Daily Battle-Ground (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1881
• The Daily Bugle (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1882-1884
• The True American (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1855
• The Southern Democrat (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1890
• Republican Gazette (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1869
• The Labor News (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1908-1909

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 34 newspaper titles up on DigitalNC, including four from Carthage, North Carolina: Former home to the Tyson & Jones Buggy Company.

The “Jones” of the Tyson & Jones Buggy Company was William T. Jones, who was born into slavery and became one of the most well-respected and wealthiest businessmen in Carthage. Born near Elizabethtown in 1833, his father was a plantation owner and his mother was an enslaved person. Prior to the Civil War, he was given his freedom and moved to Fayetteville to work as a painter for a carriage company. It was there that his work was noticed by Thomas Tyson, who convinced him to come to Carthage to work for his fledgling operation in 1857, and by 1859 Jones was made a partner in that company. In 1861, Jones joined the Confederate Army and was subsequently captured by Union forces. While imprisoned at Fort Delaware, Jones began making moonshine from potato peelings and bread crusts and selling it to the Union guards. After Sherman’s March left much of the area devastated, it was the Jones’ moonshine money that allowed the Tyson & Jones Buggy Company to restart production, employing many struggling locals and helping to restart the local economy.

Even though Jones was a captain of industry, North Carolina House of Representatives candidate, and Sunday School teacher with a legacy that lives on in Carthage, it was not widely acknowledged that he wasn’t White. It wasn’t until recently that him being a Black man was recognized as fact and his full story was told.

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 Central Times (Dunn, N.C.) – 1892-1894
• The Albemarle Chronicle (Albemarle, N.C.) – 1912
• The Chronicle (Albemarle, N.C.) – 1912-1915
• Daily Concord Standard (Concord, N.C.) – 1898-1899
• The Chatham Record (Pittsboro, N.C.) – 1899
• Moore Gazette (Carthage, N.C.) – 1881-1885
• The Carthaginian (Carthage, N.C.) – 1878
• Moore Index (Carthage, N.C.) – 1879-1880
• The Southern Protectionist (Carthage, N.C.) – 1888
• The Sampson Democrat (Clinton, N.C.) – 1920-1921
• The High Point Enterprise (High Point, N.C.) – 1893-1915
• Daily Enterprise (High Point, N.C.) – 1906-1908
• The Patriot and Times (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1869
• The Greensboro Patriot (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1869-1918
• Greensboro Patriot (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1880
• The Daily Evening Patriot (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1890
• The Watchman and Harbinger (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1863-1864
• The New North State (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1878
• The North State (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1878-1885
• The Beacon (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1880
• The Rowan Record (China Grove, N.C.) – 1909-1919
• China Grove Record (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1920-1925
• Jackson County Journal (Sylva, N.C.) – 1913-1919
• The Ansonian (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1907-1908
• The Pender Chronicle (Burgaw, N.C.) – 1912-1943
• Harnett County News (Lillington, N.C.) – 1919-1922
• Goldsboro’ News (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1867-1873
• Goldsboro Daily Messenger (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1869
• Goldsboro Daily Argus (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1911
• The Evening Review (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1875-1877
• The Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1881
• The Tribune (Henderson, N.C.) – 1873-1876
• The Henderson Pioneer (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1866-1867
• The Daily Herald (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1911-1912

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.