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“The Debate over the Sweatiest Professor” – April Fool’s Day in NC Newspapers

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newspapers

April Fool’s Day is upon us.  (We thought Google Chrome’s support for emoji translation could be really useful for transcribing some of our newspapers!)  These days it seems April Fool’s is mostly played out online, with websites jockeying for the best prank.  Taking a look through DigitalNC’s Newspaper Collection shows that pulling pranks on April Fool’s via [print] media is nothing new.

WilsonAdvanceAprilFoolsAdvice

The oldest reference found to April Fool’s Day in the newspapers is from The Wilson Advance in 1897, which reminded its readers which day it was and to be on the alert for pranksters.  The small news item gives a glimpse of what April Fool’s jokes entailed in the late 1890s. (for context, $10 in 1897 would equal approximately $268 today)

BrevardCollege_AprilFools

Starting with the 1937 April Fool’s Day issue of the Clarion from Brevard College, which is the first appearance of an April Fool’s themed paper in NC Newspapers,  it appears that special April Fool’s Day editions of student newspapers were popular across North Carolina, as they remain today if you browse through some campus newspapers online.  Some of the funnier news headers we found included a color by number of Elon’s Pendlelum in  1999 and the 1991 Goofordian [regularly the Guilfordian] from Guilford College, which also noted that you can read all about the debate over the sweatiest professor on page 2.

ElonAprilFools1999

GoofordianAprilFools_1991

To view more newspapers from across North Carolina, visit the North Carolina Newspapers collection and to view specifically more papers from April 1 through the years, check out the “Today in North Carolina History” section on the right side of the page.

“The Trojan” yearbooks from Charles H. Darden High School now on DigitalNC

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underrepresented yearbooks

1969editorialstaff_TheTrojan
1969 Editorial Staff of The Trojan

Ten years of yearbooks from Charles H. Darden High School in Wilson, NC are now available on DigitalNC.  Covering the time period between 1948 and 1969, the yearbooks show life at the African-American high school. The class of 1970 was Darden High School’s last class. In the years following through 1978 it was a 10th grade only school.

The yearbooks are available courtesy of Wilson County Public Library.  To view more yearbooks on DigitalNC, visit our North Carolina Yearbooks collection.

* Details about Darden’s last class and subsequent years corrected July 2023.

Hutch, Early 20th Century Charlotte Cartoonist

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newspapers

Monday Matchup

Here on our blog, we occasionally feature “matchups” that showcase relationships between different items in our collection. Today’s matchup? Cartoons from the Hickory Democrat and information from Charlotte City Directories.

A number of community newspapers on DigitalNC have cartoons; not many of those cartoons describe local content, which is why the recently published Hickory Democrat caught our eye. Scanning front page after front page during 1906-1907, right under the masthead, are cartoons commenting on items of US and local significance. They’re signed “Hutch” and sometimes say “Courtesy The Charlotte News.”

The usual Googling didn’t turn up much, and we couldn’t find any reference to Hutch in the Hickory Democrat besides the cartoons, so we turned to The Charlotte News. From the News, we were able to piece together more about the artist.

Hutch was the pen name of cartoonist Andrew C. Hutchinson, a Charlotte resident who began drawing cartoons for the News in his late teens. His talent was well respected, especially in light of his age. The News occasionally has articles related to Hutch’s career, mentioning that his cartoons were reprinted around the state (as in the Hickory Democrat) and beyond (the Atlanta Journal republished a cartoon in 1909).

The first reference to Hutch as a cartoonist is in the August 25, 1903 News, which states “Mr. Andrew Hutchinson, Charlotte’s clever young cartoonist, is seriously ill with malarial fever.” The first of his cartoons we located in the News are in the May 30, 1906 issue, which sports two on the front page:

Charlotte News, 1906-05-30, page 1

Charlotte News, 1906-05-30, page 1. Available through Newspapers.com.

Charlotte News 1915-01-16, page 12

Charlotte News 1915-01-16, page 12. Available through Newspapers.com.

Sometime between March 1910 and December 1911, Hutch moved to New York to draw for the New York World. The clipping at right, from the January 16, 1914 News, proudly describes Hutch’s New York career, which was flourishing as he provided content for Life, Judge, Satire, and The Yonkers Daily News, and as he signed on to work for the Hearst Corporation. 

What else do we know about Hutch? A 1910 Charlotte City Directory lists “Hutchinson, Andrew C. Jr. cartoonist” residing at 711 W. Trade Street. It looks like he’s there with his father and mother*, Andrew and Antoinette Hutchinson, as well as two brothers (James L. and John W.). He isn’t listed in the 1911 directory, which makes sense with his purported move to New York. From that 1911 directory, we unfortunately find out that his father passed away as Antoinette is listed as a widow.

This is as far as we got in tracking down Hutch. His cartoons don’t appear in the Hickory Democrat past 1907. We don’t know how long he worked in New York, how his career progressed, or where he ended up. If you have any clues, let us know.

 

*We know that Andrew, Antoinette, James and John are family from the 1910 census record, which also tells us that Andrew Jr. was born around 1886. Census Record Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Charlotte Ward 3, Mecklenburg, North Carolina; Roll: T624_1121; Page: 19A; Enumeration District: 0102; FHL microfilm:1375134

“ACC Tournament week is sort of like a holiday…”

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Elon's The Pendulum staff publishes their ACC picks in 1991.

Elon’s The Pendulum staff publishes their ACC picks in 1991.

As you scramble to fill out your brackets, we at the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center thought it would be fun to see how the ACC tournament has been discussed across the state throughout the years since the tournament started in the 1950s.  While we all know the big names in the tournament who call North Carolina home, many of the state’s smaller institutions have had a lot to say on the tournament over the years as well, even if their own school or anyone from their town is not participating.  A look through the newspapers we have in DigitalNC shows that North Carolina is truly basketball country, especially in March.

The columnist from the Clarion, Brevard's student newspaper, in 1979 describing the tournament atmosphere in NC much as one finds it today.

The columnist from the Clarion, Brevard’s student newspaper, in 1979 describing the tournament atmosphere in NC much as one finds it today.

The quote from the article above, from 1979, goes to show that the hyper-attention on the tournament is nothing new.  Productivity in North Carolina during this week in March has always been rather low!

Elon's student newspaper sports columnist in 1994 brushes off criticism for focusing on the ACC tournament by noting Elon doesn't participate in any yet.

Elon’s student newspaper sports columnist in 1994 brushes off criticism for focusing on the ACC tournament by noting Elon doesn’t participate in any yet.

It seems that all the sports columnists in both town and other institution’s student newspapers had an opinion to offer on who they think will win the tournament that year and overall commentary on the tournament and how it stands up to others for the sport.  Many of the columnists remark that having grown up in North Carolina they always followed the tournament, and so brush off any criticism over the fact their own school isn’t participating so why offer commentary?

Headline for an article from Louisberg College's "Columns" student newspaper in 1964, arguing the ACC tournament does not properly reward the best team in the ACC.

Headline for an article from Louisburg College’s “Columns” student newspaper in 1964, arguing the ACC tournament does not properly reward the best team in the ACC.

ACC_DukeUNC_1979

The other student newspapers across the state don’t tend to pick between the big blue rivalry. This is from the Clarion, Brevard College’s student newspaper, in 1979.

Duke and Carolina is the repeated rivalry throughout the sports columns discussing the tournament.  There is even a column from Raeford’s The News-Journal that laments that North Carolina State University beat Duke in the first round of the tournament, noting that Duke was clearly the best team in the country.

The airlines got in on the ACC fun too. This photograph from Piedmont Airlines' company paper shows the winner of their ACC trivia contest, with a prize of roundtrip tickets to the tournament in 1981.

The airlines got in on the ACC fun too. This photograph from Piedmont Airlines’ company paper shows the winner of their ACC trivia contest, with a prize of roundtrip tickets to the tournament in 1981.

To view more ACC tournament news from the past and check out more North Carolina newspapers in general, visit the North Carolina Newspapers page.  And as the NC Digital Heritage Center staff’s only bias is for all things North Carolina, we wish the Wolfpack, Deacons, Blue Devils, and Tar Heels well this week!

1,000th High School Yearbook added to DigitalNC!

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yearbooks

TarBoRah stars and stripes banner

A few weeks ago, we passed a very exciting milestone at the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.  We added our 1000th high school yearbook to the North Carolina High School Yearbooks collection.  The yearbook that got the special 1,000th honor was the Tar-Bo-Rah issue from 1942, published by Tarboro High School.  That particular issue, published during World War II, features a fair amount of patriotic insignia.  The cover has the Statue of Liberty on it, the pages features bold blue stars with stripes around Tar-Bo-Rah, and the original owner of the yearbook noted  by hand that those whose pictures were not included were already serving the U.S.A.  The Tarboro High School yearbooks were made available by the Edgecombe County Memorial Library.

TarBoRah seniors without pictures note

To date, 170 different high schools are represented in DigitalNC, coming from 37 counties across North Carolina.  The oldest high school yearbook is the 1898-1899 issue of the Whitsett Institute Annual Register.  The smallest school represented is Eastern Pines School, whose Souvenir lists only one teacher and twenty students in 1910.  To view the over 1,000 high school yearbooks from across North Carolina now available on DigitalNC, visit our North Carolina High School Yearbooks page.

If you are a staff member at a public library or other cultural institution in North Carolina that holds NC high school yearbooks in your collection that have not been digitized by the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, get in touch with us soon and we can talk about how to participate.

Rockingham County Public Library Honor Roll and More on DigitalNC

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memorabilia yearbooks

Honor Roll of Rockingham County

Honor Roll of Rockingham County, page 46.

New items for the Rockingham County Legacy: A Digital Heritage Project exhibit, contributed by the Rockingham County Public Library, are now available on DigitalNC.

Of note is the Honor Roll of Rockingham County. This book is full of portraits of Rockingham county men and women who served during World War II. Beneath each portrait are details including the names of parents, hometown, and service dates. African American servicemen are included separately at the last few pages.

Also new are the following scrapbooks, ledgers, cards, and yearbook:

Scrapbook of Red Sox Catcher Johnny Peacock Now Available Online

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memorabilia scrapbooks

Screen Shot 2014-03-06 at 3.34.44 PMWe’ve recently digitized and published online a terrific scrapbook from the local history collection at the Wayne County Public Library. The scrapbook documents the early career of professional baseball player and Wayne County native Johnny Peacock.

Peacock was born and grew up in Fremont, N.C., where he excelled in high school sports. He attended the University of North Carolina, playing baseball and football. After graduating from UNC in 1933, Peacock began his professional career in North Carolina with the Wilmington Pirates of the Piedmont League. He continued with minor league teams in Toronto, Nashville, and Minneapolis before making his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox in 1937.

Peacock was a backup catcher throughout his career, never appearing in more than 89 games in a season. He spent parts of eight seasons with the Red Sox and a couple of seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies before finishing  his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945. He retired with a career batting average of .262.

Screen Shot 2014-03-06 at 3.35.50 PM

The scrapbook includes clippings and photographs from Peacock’s baseball career from high school through 1939.

More Materials from Stanly County Museum now Online

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campuspublications memorabilia photos scrapbooks yearbooks

Page from scrapbook of Marvin R. StokesFrom photos and papers documenting Albemarle schools to ledgers and scrapbooks of local citizens, we’ve uploaded more materials from the Stanly County Museum. One of our favorite items is the Marvin R. Stokes scrapbook, which has photographs related to his military service as well as action shots of motorcycle and car racing in Charlotte, like the one at right (page 9).

Yearbooks and School-Related Materials:

Scrapbooks:

Ledgers:

Ephemera:

There were also a number of photos added to those already available in the Images of North Carolina collection. You can also view all items from the Stanly County Museum.

Commencement Programs for UNC-Chapel Hill on DigitalNC

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campuspublications

UNC Commencement Covers

UNC-Chapel Hill commencement programs from 1843 and 2009.

We’re pleased to present the Commencement Programs of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from 1843 through 2009, now on DigitalNC.

From 33 names printed in a two-page document, written in Latin, to 80 pages describing accolades, honored guests, and university traditions, these programs have grown as much as the commencement event.

The 1843 program includes several names for which we know more from NCpedia and East Carolina University:

  • John Luther Bridgers of Tarboro. He was a colonel in the Civil War, a farmer, and a lawyer.
  • Robert Pain Dick of Greensboro. State Senator and North Carolina Supreme Court judge.
  • Philo Henderson of Mecklenburg County. Poet who “was rather wild,” wrote a contemporary of his, “but never guilty of anything dishonorable.”
  • Joseph Caldwell Huske of Fayetteville. Long-time rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, NC.
  • Walter Waightstill Lenoir of Caldwell County. Class valedictorian, lawyer, and planter.

We also have catalogs, yearbooks, and other campus publications like the Basketball Blue Book and Carolina Magazine from UNC-Chapel Hill.

North Carolina Collection Yearbooks: Caricatures, Admirals, and More

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yearbooks

blackgoldserial20wins_cover

Several yearbooks from the North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill are now on DigitalNC. The yearbooks include: Richard J. Reynolds High School and its predecessors Winston City High School and Winston-Salem City High School, 1910-1931; Gastonia High School, 1922; Fayetteville High School, 1923; Chapel Hill High School, 1925-1964, New Bern High School, 1927; Perquimans County High School, 1927; and 1964-1968 yearbooks from J.W. Ligon High School, a former Black high school that is now Ligon Middle School in Raleigh, N.C.

Admiral Richard E. Byrd from the 1931 R.J. Reynolds yearbookThe 1931 issue of The Black and Gold from RJ Reynolds High School warrants a special mention. That year’s staff had very ambitious illustrators, as every student’s photo is accompanied by a humorous caricature that offers a hint (albeit a slightly insulting one) at the student’s personality. Clubs and societies receive similar treatment. The yearbook also reveals that the school received a visit that year from Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, a polar explorer and aviator, thanks to the school’s Fine Arts Foundation. View Admiral Byrd’s letter to the school and the many fine caricatures here.

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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.

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