With our hot summer weather just around the corner, I hope you’ve planned ahead, as the folks behind this sign suggested:
Issues of the Louisburg College Student Newspaper are now online at DigitalNC.org. The available issues date from 1908 to 1998, covering the school’s transformation from an all-female institution to a coeducational one in 1931. The student newspaper underwent a number of title changes throughout the years, publishing as “Louisburg Echoes”, “The Gull”, “The Sea Thean” (a play on the two literary societies – the Sea Gift and the Neithean Society – that co-published the newspaper), and my personal favorite, the “Lo’ Co'”, before finally settling on “Columns” in the early 1940s. “Columns” is still published today as the school’s alumni magazine.
The Spring 2012 North Carolina Digital Heritage Center newsletter is now available! Download or print a copy to keep up with news, featured projects, and more.
The issue of the News-Journal from Raeford, N.C. published on this day in 1969 includes photos of the entire graduating class from Hoke County High School. It’s a great example of a small-town paper reaching out to the local community, and also gives visual evidence of Hoke County’s success in finally integrating its public school system.
Judging from a battle of the ads between Camel cigarettes and Chesterfield cigarettes in the Maroon and Gold, the student newspaper of Elon University, the 18-24 demographic was a priority target for ad men as early as 1936. Throughout Volume IX of the Maroon and Gold, spanning the 1935-1936 academic year, Camel regularly placed ads on the penultimate page of an issue, while Chesterfield secured space on the back page.
A selection of historic issues of the Marion Progress, a weekly paper from Marion, N.C., are now available in the North Carolina Newspapers collection.
There are over 150 issues online, from the years 1916, 1929, and 1940. These years were selected by the McDowell County Public Library because of their coverage of major events in the county. There were devastating floods in the area in 1916 and 1940 and a major textile strike in 1929.
I’m pleased to announce that we have just loaded a dozen historic photos of Clayton, N.C. into the Images of North Carolina collection. Primarily from the early 20th century, these show businesses, schools, and a few people. My favorite is the photo of the Robertson Mule Company, with its large images of mules right on the front.
Robertson Mule Stable
As another school year closes, we found this rather timely letter written by a student on behalf of his classmates at the end of their May 10, 1806 exam. Echoing the sentiments of generations of students upon the submission of coursework, he wrote to their instructors:
“We hope it may have proved to your satisfaction;
& if you should have observed any faults, we wish
they might be excused.”
Later, the students shed some light on why they might have felt the need to write such a letter as they describe their work (and behavior!) over the past year:
“We likewise embrace this Opportunity to show our gratitude
to you our dear Teachers, whose patience we have very often put to the Test
& have grieved you by our disobedience to your kind admonitions &
advice, in which you certainly have not been wanting, & by not paying a
proper attention to our Studies; but we hope you will forget what has happened
already, since it is our wish to be more obedient to your admonitions in future
& to pay a more strict attention to our Studies”
The four-page letter was bound at the end (pp. 359-362) of a volume of exams from Old Salem Museums & Gardens’ collection of student exercise books. We recently digitized an additional ten volumes, bringing the total number of volumes in the digital collection to twenty, and we will be adding more in the coming weeks!
This blog is maintained by the staff of the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center and features the latest news and highlights from the collections at DigitalNC, an online library of primary sources from organizations across North Carolina.