This week we have another 35 newspaper titles up on DigitalNC including thousands of issues from the Greensboro Daily News and Charlotte Daily Observer!

In the January 7^th, 1898 issue of the Charlotte Daily Observer, we have a story about a little girl who had swallowed a thimble and was saved by a new invention: the x-ray machine. Dr. Henry Louis Smith, a physics professor at Davidson College, was an early pioneer in x-ray technology. Smith’s machine was used in some of the first clinical applications, such as this, and allowed doctors to safely find and remove the foreign object from the ailing girl’s body.

Charlotte Daily Observer, January 7, 1898

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 Western Enterprise (Asheville, N.C.) – 1908-1910

Burlington

• The Burlington News (Burlington, N.C.) – 1887-1917
• Burlington Daily News (Burlington, N.C.) – 1923
• Burlington Daily Times (Burlington, N.C.) – 1924-1926

Charlotte

• Charlotte Daily Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) -1897-1911
• The Daily Journal (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1883
• The Daily Journal-Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1883
• The Journal-Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1883

Durham

• Durham Tobacco Plant (Durham, N.C.) – 1886
• The Tobacco Plant (Durham, N.C.) – 1886-1888

Graham

• The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.) -1881-1907

Greensboro

• Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1909-1922

Highlands

• The Highlander, Macon County and Western North Carolina Advertiser (Highlands, N.C.) – 1885-1887

Milton

• Milton Gazette & Roanoke Advertiser (Milton, N.C.) – 1828
• The Milton Chronicle (Milton, N.C.) – 1874

Salem

• The Weekly Gleaner (Salem, N.C.) – 1828-1829

Southport

• Southport Standard (Southport, N.C.) – 1897-1905
• Southport Herald (Southport, N.C.) – 1905-1909

Spencer

• The Spencer Crescent (Spencer, N.C.) – 1908-1914

Statesville

• Iredell Express (Statesville, N.C.) – 1858-1865
• The Intelligencer (Statesville, N.C.) – 1872-1874
• Statesville American and Tobacco Journal (Statesville, N.C.) – 1886

Tarboro

• Weekly Dispatch (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1897
• Political Synopsis (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1814-1815
• The Tarborough Guide (Tarborough, N.C.) – 1883
• The Tarboro’ Scaevola (Tarborough, N.C.) – 1837

Thomasville

• The Davidsonian (Thomasville, N.C.) – 1910-1915

Wadesboro

• People’s Literary Casket (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1874
• The Plow Boy (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1895-1897
• Wadesboro Courier (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1896-1902

Waynesville

• The Haywood Enterprise (Waynesville, N.C.) – 1908

Wilson

• The Wilson Advance (Wilson, N.C.) – 1880-1899
• The Wilson Times (Wilson, N.C.) – 1923-1929

Windsor

• The Orient (Windsor, N.C.) – 1896-1897
• The Windsor Herald, and Bertie County Register (Windsor, N.C.) – 1833

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’ve added another 60 titles to DigitalNC. Included in this batch is the possible origin of a classic North Carolina ghost story!

The Maco Light story tells of a train conductor name Joe Baldwin who was decapitated in a tragic railway accident near the small community of Maco, North Carolina. Legend has it that the ghost of Mr. Baldwin could be seen walking the tracks at night, carrying a lantern and searching for his misplaced head, but once the railroad was removed in the 1970s he was never seen again.

The Southerner, January 12, 1856

As is the case with most folk tales, the story is passed down and embellished over the years and the origin becomes a little fuzzy. There is no record of a “Joe” Baldwin being involved in a wreck, but the January 12^th, 1856 issue of The Southerner has an article detailing a train accident that took place just outside of Wilmington a week earlier. The deceased in this incident is Charles Baldwin, who suffered a fatal head injury during the crash. Given the similarities in these stories, it seems our ghost might have actually stayed in one piece.

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

• Daily Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1905

Greensboro

• The Way of the World (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1862-1864
• The Weekly Tar Heel (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1905-1906
• The Twice-A-Week Tar Heel (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1907

Hendersonville

• The Visitor (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1916-1918
• The Hendersonville Visitor (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1918
• The News of Henderson County (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1918-1919

Oxford

• The Tattler (Oxford, N.C.) – 1921-1922
• The Oxford Leader (Oxford, N.C.) – 1876
• The Torch-Light (Oxford, N.C.) – 1874-1880
• The Oxford Torchlight (Oxford, N.C.) – 1880-1886
• The Torchlight (Oxford, N.C.) – 1886-1888

Rutherfordton

• The Rutherfordton Tribune (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1901-1904
• The Western Vindicator (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1868-1899

Salem

• Weekly Chronicle and Farmers’ Register (Salem, N.C.) – 1836-1837
• The Little Typo (Salem, N.C.) – 1885-1889
• The News (Salem, N.C.) – 1883-1885

Salisbury

• The Salisbury Truth (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1887-1899

Southern Pines

• The Pine Knot (Southern Pines, N.C.) – 1886-1888

Southport

• The Southport Leader (Southport, N.C.) – 1895-1896

Tarboro

• Tarboro’ Mercury (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1859-1861
• The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1856-1858, 1869

Taylorsville

• The Taylorsville Index (Taylorsville, N.C.) – 1890-1891

Warrenton

• The Warrenton Courier (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1868
• The Living Present (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1869
• The Warrenton News (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1878-1882
• Home Journal (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1885
• Warrenton (North-Carolina) Reporter (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1824-1841

Washington

• The Republican (Washington, N.C.) – 1839
• Rough and Ready (Washington, N.C.) – 1848
• The Statesman, and Third Congressional District Advertiser (Washington, N.C.) – 1834-1835
• North Carolina Times (Washington, N.C.) – 1856-1860
• The Union Advance Picket (Washington, N.C.) – 1862
• The Eastern Intelligencer (Washington, N.C.) – 1869
• The Union (Washington, N.C.) – 1832
• What Next (Washington, N.C.) – 1876
• Washington Dispatch (Washington, N.C.) – 1857-1861
• Washington Herald (Washington, N.C.) – 1827
• Washington Index (Washington, N.C.) – 1867
• The Washington Gazette (Washington, N.C.) – 1884-1898

Williamston

• Democratic Banner (Williamston, N.C.) – 1856-1857
• Williamston Expositor (Williamston, N.C.) – 1866-1867
• Williamston Mercury (Williamston, N.C.) – 1859

Wilson

• The North Carolinian (Wilson, N.C.) – 1867-1868
• The Daily News (Wilson, N.C.) – 1900-1901
• The Wilson Ledger (Wilson, N.C.) – 1858-1861
• The Flag of the South (Wilson, N.C.) – 1861
• The Advertiser (Wilson, N.C.) – 1888
• The Advance (Wilson, N.C.) – 1874-1876
• The Wilson News (Wilson, N.C.) – 1899
• The Daily Topic (Wilson, N.C.) – 1873
• Southern Sentinel (Wilson, N.C.) – 1856
• The Little Jewel (Wilson, N.C.) – 1875

Winston

• The Piedmont Advertiser (Winston, N.C.) – 1890
• The Winston Leader (Winston, N.C.) – 1879-1885
• The Daily Pilot (Winston, N.C.) – 1883-1884

Winston-Salem

• The Twin-City Daily Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1892-1914
• Elite (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1900
• The North Carolina Enterprise (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1885-1915
• The Enterprise (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1915

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.

Front page of the April 15, 1870 issue of Zion’s Landmarks

Fifty-five issues of Zion’s Landmarks, a Baptist newspaper published in Wilson, North Carolina, are now available online thanks to our partner institution, Wake Forest University. The issues, “devoted to the defense of the Primitive Baptists,” dates from 1869 to 1877. The paper primarily consist of letters to community elders and the paper’s editors, but also often include biblical narratives, such as “Ruth married to Boaz,” in the issue from October 15, 1871, or “David and Goliath,” in the issue from November 15, 1870, as well as announcements to the community of subscribers.

Other newspapers on DigitalNC from Wilson near that time period include The Wilson Advance (1874-1899) and The Wilson Blade (1897). To see more from Wake Forest University, you can visit their partner page here or visit their website for more information.

Part of The Wilson Advance header from the March 24, 1876 issue.

The Local Briefs section detailing happenings of the week as seen on the first page of the March 30, 1876 issue.

Two more issues of The Wilson Advance from March of 1876 are now up on DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner Wilson County Public Library. These issues join many previously digitized issues from 1874-1899 and give a glimpse into daily life in Wilson N.C. during the late 1800s. The Wilson advance was published every Friday, and included local and national news stories as well as obituaries, marriage announcements, events, and advertisements.

To view the new issues, click the links below:

• The Wilson Advance, March 24, 1876
• The Wilson Advance, March 31, 1876

To view more issues of The Wilson Advance on DigitalNC, click here. To see more materials from Wilson County Public Library, take a look at their partner page, or visit their website.

An advertisement for Leibig’s Liquid Extract of Beef from page 2 of the March 24, 1876 issue.