With the recent 10 year anniversary of Facebook and various other forms of social media such as Twitter and Instagram becoming increasing ubiquitous in our lives, there are often reports of the end of privacy for everyone.  However, if you take a look at newspapers from the late 1800s and early 1900s, you have to wonder when privacy in one’s social life ever existed.  As the quote above about Mr. Stewart’s catch from The Danbury Reporter shows, no news was too small to be printed.  Newspapers provided a variety of resources for citizens that we now often turn to the internet for, from publishing serials such as Sherlock Holmes, ads from assorted businesses, the weather, train schedules for the day or week, and crop pricing, in addition to the regular news of the day.  So it makes sense that the media of the day also was social in nature.

News of those sick in Graham, NC from the Alamance Gleaner in 1911

From the April 27, 1934 Rocky Mount Herald

Small town newspapers in particular had weekly features that described in detail all the goings-on in town, including the very mundane of “Mr. Jones has a cold this week.  We wish him well.”  Sounds an awful lot like a tweet if you just add in a hashtag or two, “Heard @MrJones has a cold this week. #feelbetter #boosickness!”  In towns with just a few hundred people, where everyone likely knew who you were anyways, one’s social network was indeed the whole town and these local news sections provide a recording of what was happening on a weekly basis.

Appeal from Asheboro Courier editors to citizens for news items in 1903

Called a variety of names from “Local News,” “Items of Local Interest,” etc, these sections of the paper were usually a page or two after the main headlines of the day.  It is not always obvious who wrote the columns, but some do identify it as being “Club News,” being pulled together by the social women’s clubs in the area.  Others, such as the Asheboro Courier pictured above, make appeals from the paper’s editors themselves to send in items to be published.  Those with a more social club focus saw such columns as being primarily for women, such as the Rocky Mount Herald, which called their section, “Of Interest to Women.”

Other papers, such as the Forest City Courier and the Elm City Elevator, had a mix of both social and more business items in their local news and called their section, “News Items in and Around Forest City,” and “Personal Paragraphs.”

For those researching the daily lives of people around the turn of the 2oth century, these sections of newspapers can be a rich resource, not only to learn who was sick and who was visiting from out of town, but these sections also contain information about social gatherings in town, such as camp meetings, lectures, and openings of businesses such as mills and restaurants.  The newest technology can also come up in the local news items, as the telephone line mention shows below.

Restaurant news in October 9, 1919 Forest City Courier

Telephone news from the 1903 Asheboro Courier

To find more local news, check out DigitalNC‘s North Carolina Newspapers Collection and read some 140 character postings from the early 1900s.

Newspapers from across the state continue to be added at rapid pace to DigitalNC.  The Press and Carolinian and the Hickory Democrat, two newspapers printed in Hickory, NC are now available online.

The Press and Carolinian, which was a merger between The Press and The Carolinian papers in Hickory in 1887, covers general news of the day both in Hickory and across the country.  In their inaugural issue following their merger, the editors state to their readers that, “Our purpose is to spread, not to suppress the truth, and in this we ask the aid of all…We intend to make the Press and Carolinian not only a welcome visitor in every household but an indispensable luxury.”  While they claim an air of neutrality, the paper has a definite Democratic slant to its reporting and promoted the Democratic party ticket headed by Grover Cleveland in 1892. Other topics regularly reported on include big issues of the day such as union strikes, tariff disagreements, and an overall focus on the economic conditions of the country.  The issues available in DigitalNC cover 1887 until 1892.  The Press and Carolinian was recommended for digitization by the Catawba County Library.

The Hickory Democrat is a much flashier looking newspaper than the Press and Carolinian, with issues from 1906 until 1915 available online.  On the byline they inform their readers that they provide access to “All the News While It Is News.”  One particular feature of the Democrat that makes it stand out is the prevalence of political cartoons on every front page of the paper, relating to both state and national news items.   The Hickory Democrat was recommended for digitization by the Hickory Public Library.

Visit our Newspaper Collection for more North Carolina newspapers from DigitalNC.

Newspaper issues covering 1934 to 1938 of the Rocky Mount Herald are now online through DigitalNC.  The paper, published weekly, focused on both local and national news items, and covered stories include big events such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s election. As Rocky Mount was a major center of tobacco commerce in the eastern part of the state during this period, farming news, particularly as it related to tobacco, is heavily covered.  There are also more light hearted elements to the publication including a comic strip page in each issue, which provide a view into 1930s humor.

The newspaper is part of the Newspaper Digitization Project and was recommended by the Braswell Memorial Library (Rocky Mount, N.C.).

Three newspapers from Dunn, North Carolina are now available online.  All three were recommended for digitization by the Harnett County Public Library.

The Central Times was a weekly newspaper published in the first half of the 1890s.  It’s main focus were events happening in Dunn and the wider Harnett County area, although national and world events were also well covered in it’s pages.  The issues available in DigitalNC span 1891-1895.

The County Union was also a weekly publication in Dunn, NC, which replaced The Central Times.  However, while the Times seemed to have a fairly even-handed take on events, the County Union was definitely a Democratic party supporting publication.  Big topics in the paper include the Gold vs. Free Silver debates of the 1896 Presidential election, as well as the push for a Democratic takeover of the North Carolina government in 1898.  The issues of the County Union available in DigitalNC cover 1895-1899.

As a result of the win by the Democrats in the 1900 election in North Carolina, the County Union changed it’s name to The Democratic Banner in 1901.  Continuing to print local and state news with a partisan slant, the paper covers the start of the twentieth century in North Carolina and the strong shift in politics in the state as Governor Aycock took charge.  Topics including prohibition support, anti-women’s suffrage editorials, and segregation becoming increasing institutionalized are all topics of discussion.  Issues covering 1901-1902 are included in DigitalNC.

To view more newspapers from across North Carolina, visit DigitalNC‘s North Carolina Newspapers Collection.

Over 400 issues of the Forest City Courier are now available online through DigitalNC.

Quoting the U.S. Department of Agriculture Survey reporting that Forest City is “One of the Ten Best Planned and Most Beautiful Cities in the U.S.A.” on its byline, the Courier covers Forest City and surrounding towns in Rutherford County. The issues available in DigitalNC cover the time period of 1919 through 1931. Frequent topics include local issues such as the need for road improvements and the promotion of tourism in North Carolina. During these years, the Courier ran a regular column entitled “Important News the World Over: Important Happening of this and Other Nations for Seven Days Given.”

This title is part of the Newspaper Digitization project and was selected for digitization by Rutherford County Library.

Issues of the Erwin Chatter and The Cooleemee Journal newspapers have just been added to DigitalNC. Both titles were recommended for digitization by Davie County Public Library.

The Cooleemee Journal was a weekly community paper. We’ve added issues from 1965-1970. The later issues are especially full of large and candid photographs of local events and citizens. The entire run contains local Cooleemee news.

Front page, Cooleemee Journal, September 23, 1970

Cooleemee Picnic, August 1970

The Erwin Chatter was a publication of The Erwin Cotton Mills Company. Like many company newspapers, it describes the activities of the employees both at the mill and beyond – with reports from the different departments alongside announcements of marriages, events, and local school news. We’ve posted monthly issues from 1944 until the Chatter was discontinued as a cost-cutting measure in March, 1954.

As we at the Digital Heritage Center have pondered the question Our State has lain before us – Pie or Cake? Cake or Pie? – we decided to don our fedoras, flip open our notebooks, and delve back into our collection of North Carolina newspapers to see when and how these dueling desserts have turned up in press history. So, what did our decisively unscientific survey* turn up?

First Mention in the Papers

Winner: Pie, 1853

Pumpkin Pie, to be specific. It was mentioned as being on the menu in the December 1, 1853 (p.2/col.2) issue of the Fayetteville Observer, when describing a dinner of “Eighteen States” to be held in Albany, NY in honor of Connecticut. However, you may be arguing that you want to know about mentions in a NORTH CAROLINA context. Then we present to you:

First Mention in the Papers, Related to a North Carolina Event

Winner: Cake, 1855

The best Pound Cake, Fruit Cake, or Sponge Cake could each win you a premium of $0.25  at the Robeson Agricultural Fair of 1855, which is the earliest mention of pies or cakes we can find in relation to a North Carolina event. The Richmond County Fair of 1857 gave out prizes for the best Pound, Fruit, and Sponge Cakes, as well as the best Potato, Whortleberry, or Green Apple Pie. Our state fair only began asking for entries for cakes in 1870, with Sponge, Fruit, or Plain Cake.

Earliest Recipe Found

Winner: Cake, 1878

Cold Water Cake Recipe, Chatham Record, 10-10-1878

The Chatham Record, October 10, 1878 (p.4/col.2) lists “receipts” for a few cakes, although none of them are battling it out in the Our State contest. You’ll see Cold-Water Cake (right), Currant Cake, and a Lemon Meringue, the latter of which we took at first glance to be a pie but the bottom is lined with sponge cake so we counted it as cake. This is the earliest actual recipe we could locate in the collection.

Pie isn’t far behind, though. The January 2, 1879 (p.4/col.1) issue of The Chatham Record lists a receipt for Sweet Potato Pie, another North Carolina favorite.

Most Difficult / Largest Dessert

Shopping list for a 13 lb Fruit Cake, Asheboro Courier, 06-01-1911

Winner: Recipe for a 13-lb Fruit Cake from 1911

“Do not attempt to make the cake yourself unless you are experienced in this line; for this is the test of cake making…” Six months before Christmas, The Courier of Asheboro, June 1, 1911 (p.3/col.5), posted an examination of the making of Fruit Cake, complete with a recipe for a 13-pound version that would set you back $2.73 at prevailing prices. However, the author (Dorothy Avery Howard) warns you that Fruit Cake is no task for a young bride, as it is “called one of the most difficult to undertake.” Luckily, she provides a tried and true recipe which you can find in the paper.

Is North Carolina an Angel or a Devil’s Food Cake state?

Winner: Angel

Between mentions in social columns or posted recipes, North Carolina is an Angel Food Cake state by a margin of 6:1. Either we truly side with the Angels, or we keep our Devil’s Food Cake consumption under wraps…

Mrs. Marie Fogle, Firestone News, 07-25-1953

Best Photograph of a Chef with Her Dessert

Winner: Mrs. Fogle and “Mary’s Pound Cake”

In the Firestone News, July 25, 1953 (p.6) we find Mrs. Marie Fogle who produces “a wide assortment of tempting, eye-appealing cakes.” The recipe for her favorite pound cake is included in the article. She is called an artist with a spatula, and from the looks of the cake in the photo we’d take one right now.

Overall Winner?

Heck if we know. We love them both and now we’re pretty sure North Carolina chefs have been mastering them all for years. If you can beat our findings using newspapers on DigitalNC.org, get in touch and we’ll dub you master chef.

* margin of error +/- 3.14159