We now have issues of The Wake Weekly and Youngsville-Rolesville Record from 1952 and 1960 through 1962 up on DigitalNC! The scope of the paper rarely ventures outside its tri-town borders, but offers a unique look into the lives of Raleigh’s northern neighbors in the 1950s and 60s.
In this batch we have illegal gambling parties complete with confiscated moonshine, the much-anticipated results of the Dairy Princess Pageant, writers expressing their feelings about this wild new thing called “rock ‘n roll,” and a teenage gossip column where you can learn whether Jerry Beddingfield and Nancy Pettigrew like Twist and Shout by the Isley Brothers or not. Every accomplishment was celebrated and every traffic citation documented. With a paper this intimate it’s easy to see how tight knit this community really was.
These papers were provided to us by our partners at the Wake Forest Historical Museum. For information about events and planning a visit you can visit their site here.
