This week we have another 32 titles up on DigitalNC! Eleven of these papers are from Asheville, including a few with a focus on the organized labor movement.

When people think of North Carolina, unions aren’t typically the first thing that come to mind, which makes sense since the state has the second lowest union representation rate in the country at 2.6%, only beating South Carolina by about 1%. However, in the first half of the 20^th century, the labor movement was alive and well, that is until North Carolina officially became a Right-To-Work state in 1947, greatly limiting the power of unions in the state. In the 1950s, the unionization rate was 9% and it has been on the decline ever since.

The Workman, March 30, 1901

The Asheville Banner, July 30, 1931

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:

1. The Elkin Tribune (Elkin, N.C.) – 1914-1920
2. The Progress (Enfield, N.C.) – 1922-1924
3. The North Carolina Times (Louisburg, N.C.) – 1848
4. The Monroe Enquirer (Monroe, N.C.) – 1909-1942
5. The Morganton Herald (Morganton, N.C.) – 1889-1890
6. Rocky Mount Mail (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1873-1876
7. Person County Courier (Roxboro, N.C.) – 1887-1889
8. Johnston Courier (Smithfield, N.C.) – 1878
9. Madison County Record (Marshall, N.C.) – 1902-1910
10. The French Broad News (Marshall, N.C.) – 1907-1911
11. Law’s Lash (Moravian Falls, N.C.) – 1911-1914
12. The Lash (Moravian Falls, N.C.) – 1914-1930
13. The Murphy Advance (Murphy, N.C.) – 1889
14. Murphy Bulletin (Murphy, N.C.) – 1886-1888
15. Union and Scottish Chief (Maxton, N.C.) – 1892-1893
16. Scottish Chief (Maxton, N.C.) – 1893-1894
17. Maxton Scottish Chief (Maxton, N.C.) – 1894-1898
18. Southern Illustrated Age (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1875
19. North Carolina Christian Advocate (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1856-1861
20. The Eclectic (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1892
21. The Special Informer (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1892
22. Anti-Saloon Advocate (Asheville, N.C.) – 1905
23. The Freeman (Asheville, N.C.) – 1933
24. Asheville Life (Asheville, N.C.) – 1930
25. Asheville Herald (Asheville, N.C.) – 1933
26. The Asheville Banner (Asheville, N.C.) – 1931
27. The Good Roads Bulletin (Asheville, N.C.) – 1900
28. The Workman (Asheville, N.C.) – 1901
29. Our Mountain Home (Asheville, N.C.) – 1906
30. The Church Advocate (Asheville, N.C.) – 1943
31. Mountain Home-Journal (Asheville, N.C.) – 1891
32. Western North Carolina Methodist (Asheville, N.C.) – 1891-1892

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.

Thanks to funding from the State Library of North Carolina’s LSTA Grant and our partner Yadkin County Public Library, 1,204 issues spanning from 1893 to 1941 of The Yadkin Ripple are now available for viewing on our website. Starting with its first issue in 1892, The Yadkin Ripple has been publishing for over 130 years. While the paper includes national news stories, its main focus is the Yadkin community with articles on local events, community member accomplishments, weddings and deaths of community members, and other interesting articles related to the area such as murder mysteries.

Murder or Suicide?, January 11, 1934.

In early January of 1934, The Yadkin Ripple published a story about Leoda “Oda” Mae Childress, a 20 year old woman living with foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Tilley, near Benham, North Carolina. On Saturday, December 30, 1933, the family was set to make their usual trip to Elkin, but this time Oda was feeling unwell and decided to stay home. Later in the day, responding to a frantic call from Oda, neighbors Nathan Tharpe and Kelly Brown made their way to the Tilley house. Upon their arrival, they saw that Oda had been shot. Immediately Tharpe checked for signs of life and found that Oda’s heart was beating faintly. He called for a doctor, but by the time Dr. H. C. Salmons arrived Oda had passed away.

After arriving at the Tilley house, authorities noted that there were several signs that a struggle had taken place within the house—drawers were rifled through in multiple areas of the house, a window was smashed, a chair was overturned, and the phone receiver was dangling at the end of its cord. Later, after authorities had finished at the scene, Mrs. Tilley found a note in the pocket of the apron Oda was wearing that Saturday. The note, presumably written by Oda, mentions four men coming to the house who said she had 20 minutes to give them $500 or she would die. Instead of giving the intruders the money, she writes that she instead hides the money in cellar of the family’s tobacco barn. Oda ends the letter by asking Mrs. Tilley to tell her sweetheart Andrew Smoot (who was married to another woman) goodbye and that she wished to be buried in Benham. The note had no signature, but Mr. and Mrs. Tilley verified that it was in Oda’s handwriting and that they had found the cash where she said it would be.

Murdered Girl and Those Charged With Her Death, February 8, 1934.

Something felt off to many in the community including The Yadkin Ripple writer Alan Browning, Jr. who voiced his feeling of unease in an article, asking: Why did the intruders allow her to telephone for aid? Why did they allow her to write a lengthy note to Mrs. W. W. Tilley? If the rumor that the note was dictated after she was shot, how would the intruders know about the secret hiding spot for the money? Lastly, if the rumor is true that this was a suicide, why would Oda go through such elaborate preparations before ending her own life? The paper continues for several weeks after the publishing of the initial article to report any new developments in the case to the community.

To read the articles about the Childress case in their entirety and find out what really happened to Oda, begin here.

To learn more about the Yadkin County Public Library, please visit their website.

To view more newspapers from across North Carolina, please click here.

Thanks to our partner, Greensboro History Museum, a batch containing over 100 additional issues of Grimsley High School’s student newspaper, High Life, as well as nine issues of the Greensboro Daily Workman from the 19th century are now available on our website.

A majority of the High Life issues from this batch are from the 1960s and 1970s. During these years the hippie movement, a movement which featured long hair, advocation of nonviolence and love, as well as folk and rock music, was taking place. Like many parents during this time, one student named Marcia Quigley had a lot to say about individuals, boys in particular, keeping their hair long.

Long Haired Boys Cause Many Unforeseen Problems, May 20, 1968.

The article begins with Quigley discussing the problems of boys having long hair which include them becoming traffic hazards due to their hair dangling in front of or blowing into their eyes, long hair leading to premature baldness, and denied entry to certain buildings. Quigley then goes on to dramatically assert that boys, simply by allowing their hair to grow out, turn from being “honest, dynamic, [and] all-American” to scroungy, upstart hippies with a reputation as a rat. If attacks on their character and driving abilities weren’t enough, the writer also makes sure to include the possibility of being bullied by fellow students and adults. Quigley’s complaint in the May 20, 1968 issue of High Life can be read in its entirety here on our website.

To learn more about the Greensboro History Museum, please visit their website.

To view more newspapers from across North Carolina, please visit our North Carolina Newspaper Collection.

“The Big Idea,” 1953

Issues of the Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News from 1935-1953 are now available in our North Carolina Newspapers collection thanks to our partner the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. According to the Library of Congress, the paper was published weekly as the “organ of the Charlotte Central Labor Union.”

The first issue we have online, from January 24, 1935, was published less than a year after the General Strike of 1934, when between 300,000 and 500,000 textile workers along the East Coast (most from North and South Carolina) protested working conditions. Despite the large turnout and national recognition, though, workers in the Southern states did not see their demands met, which made many members lose faith in their unions.

Portraits of the AFL Council from January 24, 1935

The issues that we have online roughly follow the trajectory of organized labor in the state overall; the last issue we have is from 1953, when Operation Dixie officially ended, ultimately failing to unite textile workers into a single large union. Part of that failure stemmed from opposition by the AFL, the union behind the Charlotte Labor Journal.

To see more materials from UNC Charlotte, visit their partner page or their library website. To see more digital content about labor unions in North Carolina, click here.

This week we have another 70 newspapers up on DigitalNC! These titles span 32 towns and almost as many counties! This batch also includes our first additions from the towns of Waco, Pores Knob, La Grange, Leaksville, Mount Olive, and Manson!

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:

• Morehead City Weekly News (Morehead City, N.C.) – 1892
• Pearson’s Papers (Boomer, N.C.) – 1923
• Mount Olive Advertiser (Mount Olive, N.C.) – 1898-1900
• The Fool=Killer (Pores Knob, N.C.) – 1925-1929
• The Newton Enterprise (Newton, N.C.) – 1879-1918
• The Old North State (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1866-1868
• The Hendersonville News (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1919
• The Littleton Courier (Littleton, N.C.) – 1892
• The Magnolia Advertiser (Magnolia, N.C.) – 1872
• The Morning News (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1887
• King’s Weekly (Greenville, N.C.) – 1901
• Farm and Fireside (High Point, N.C.) – 1872
• La Grange Vidette (La Grange, N.C.) – 1875
• The Davidson Record (Lexington, N.C.) – 1876
• The Home Companion (Manson, N.C.) – 1897
• The Morganton Star (Morganton, N.C.) – 1885-1889
• The Rural Chronicle (Waco, N.C.) – 1884
• Surry Weekly Visitor (Mount Airy, N.C.) – 1872-1880
• The Mount Airy News (Mount Airy, N.C.) – 1896-1914
• The Laurinburg Enterprise (Laurinburg, N.C.) – 1880
• Scotchman and Observer (Laurinburg, N.C.) – 1873
• The Madison Leader (Madison, N.C.) – 1888
• The Madison News (Madison, N.C.) – 1890
• The Mocksville Herald (Mocksville, N.C.) – 1912
• Mocksville Enterprise (Mocksville, N.C.) – 1917-1938
• The Lamp Post (Marion, N.C.) – 1881
• The Western Enterprise (Marion, N.C.) – 1862
• The Citizen (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1859-1860
• Albemarle Southron and Union Advocate (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1860
• The Trumpet (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1886-1888
• The Lincoln County News (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1919-1924
• The Weekly News (Louisburg, N.C.) – 1855
• American Eagle (Louisburg, N.C.) – 1857-1860
• Louisburg Union & North Carolina Miscellany (Louisburg, N.C.) – 1846-1847
• The Raleigh News (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1877-1878
• The Daily Call (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1889
• The Weekly Raleigh Register, and North Carolina Gazette (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1842
• The Argus (Lumberton, N.C.) – 1902-1903
• The Weekly Argus (Lumberton, N.C.) – 1903-1904
• The Lumberton Argus (Lumberton, N.C.) – 1904-1905
• The Asheville Register (Asheville, N.C.) – 1904-1905
• Asheville Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) – 1900, 1926
• Asheville Gazette (Asheville, N.C.) – 1900
• The Milton Gazette (Milton, N.C.) – 1892-1893
• The Milton Herald (Milton, N.C.) – 1898-1900
• The Milton Advertiser (Milton, N.C.) – 1886-1891
• The Leaksville Reporter (Leaksville, N.C.) – 1888
• Leaksville Herald (Leaksville, N.C.) – 1860-1861
• Dan Valley Echo (Leaksville, N.C.) – 1885-1887
• The Leaksville Gazette (Leaksville, N.C.) – 1883
• Herald of the Times (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1835-1836
• The Elizabeth City News (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1891-1894
• The Albemarle Register (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1874-1875
• The Weekly Transcript (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1867
• North Carolina Native Sentinel (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1856
• The Falcon (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1881-1890
• The Daily Courier (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1860
• The Gleaner (Fayetteville, N.C.) -1883
• Wide Awake (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1876
• The Cape Fear Banner (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1880
• Campaign Herald (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1876
• Solid South (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1894
• The Journal (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1888
• The Statesman (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1873-1874
• Dollar Weekly (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1886
• The Fayetteville Index (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1909-1914
• The Fayetteville News (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1866-1868
• North Carolina Gazette (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1873-1880
• The North Carolina Gazette (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1892-1893
• Evening News (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1886-1887

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.

Title of the The Valdese News newspaper

Civic Groups in the community gathered to create food baskets for the needed in December 1938.

Digital NC is happy to announce the new addition to the newspaper collection, The Valdese News.  Issues from 1938  – 1950 cover small  community of Valdese, North Carolina, located in Western North Carolina. Locals were able to receive the newspaper on weekly on Thursdays until 1949 when the newspaper made a switch to a Wednesday delivery.

Local stories in The Valdese News included stories about the local schools, major improvements within the community and even community service opportunities. In December 1938, local civic groups gathered to create food baskets for the needy within the community. Organizations such as the Colonial Theatre, the Valdese Lions Clubs, and the Valdese Boy Scouts, donated items to help create the baskets for local community members. Community members were also given a special show at the Colonial Theatre as a thank you for their support.

To see other issues of The Valdese News, visit them here.

To view more from our partner, Burke County Public Library, visit there here.

Don’t forget to check out extensive collections of NC Newspapers here.