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Thanks to our amazing partners at P. S. Jones Alumni, Incorporated, DigitalNC is pleased to announce that a brand new (but still quite old!) issue of The Johisco is now available online! This issue dates all the way back to 1967 and will be the sixth issue hosted by DigitalNC, joining its 1968 sister-issue. These yearbooks chronicle the experience of students and faculty at P. S. Jones High School.
P. S. Jones High School, formerly located in Washington, N.C., was a historically African-American school that provided education to Washington County throughout much of the twentieth century. The school, which was originally a Rosenwald school, provided an essential educational service until 1969 when desegregation became law. This 1967 issue records some of the last students to attend the school shortly before it’s closure.
You can read the new issue of The Johisco available online now at DigitalNC here. Interested in finding more material from P. S. Jones High School? You can find each digitized issue online here. Thanks again to our fantastic partners at P. S. Jones Alumni, Incorporated for making these records available online. You can find their partner page online at DigitalNC here, or learn more on their website here.
Thanks to our amazing partners at Queens University of Charlotte, DigitalNC is pleased to announce that over a hundred new literary journals and six new beautiful books are now available online! Four of these new books are scrapbooks created for and by Queens students, while the other two are administrative records. They span from as early as 1919 to as late as 1978; combined, the collection offers a cohesive glimpse into campus life on Queens during the twentieth century. This fantastic collection will join Queens University’s burgeoning presence on DigitalNC, which has added almost three hundred records in the last year!
The highlight of this collection is by far a scrapbook titled “The Princess,” created in 1919. Scrapbooks created by students are often artistic and unconventional, pushing the conventional boundaries of the scrapbooking medium, and this volume is no exception. It chronicles Ms. Effie J. Wall’s first year at Queens, from her arrival at orientation to her departure for summer recess. Ms. Wall’s freshman experience is not unlike many modern college students’ — she quickly forms a tightly knit group of friends, finds a “beau,” makes fun of her professors, and dives in to extracurricular activities. Her handwriting fills the margins of each page, providing color commentary on clippings of newspapers and official campus publications. She also includes a variety of unconventional material in her book, including (but not limited to) peanut bags, candy wrappers, locks of her friends’ hair, and scorecards for bridge. The inclusion of these unusual materials hints at that wide-eyed fascination with the wider world many college students experience after moving away from home, even centuries ago. The Princess is an amazing example of humans remaining humans throughout the years (or, rather, teenagers being teenagers!).
Another excellent example of student creativity can be found in the wealth of literary journals included in this collection. Published under a variety of titles during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, these journals embody Queens student’s skills in written and visual art. Each issue contains poems, illustrations, and creative nonfiction created by and for Queens’ faculty and students. The issues span as far back as 1917 to as recently as 2024, meaning DigitalNC now has over a century of published material available online!
We are also pleased to announce that a brand new collection of the Queens University student newspaper has been digitized from microfilm for the very first time! The new issues will join an impressive collection of nearly 500 issues already online, ranging from 1920 to 2005. The papers chronicle campus life at Queens from 1961 to 1985, a period where Queens began accepting male students to its hallowed halls for the very first time. You can find the new issues of the Queens University student newspaper online at DigitalNC here.
You can find The Princess, along with the other scrapbooks and administrative records, online now at DigitalNC here. You can also find the literary journals online now at DigitalNC here. Interested in learning more about Queens University of Charlotte? Try exploring their records online at DigitalNC here, or visiting their website online here. Thanks again to our fantastic partners at Queens University for making this collection, and many other amazing pieces of history, available online at DigitalNC.
Thanks to our amazing partners at the Hendersonville High School Alumni Association, DigitalNC is pleased to announce that a brand new collection of memorabilia is now available online! This fantastic batch features an amazing variety of formats, including yearbooks, Hendersonville High School Hall of Fame records, and a stunning wardrobe of vintage Bearcat clothing. The new materials showcase an amazing spectrum of Hendersonville High School life, from freshman yearbook photos to famous alumni in the height of their career.
The Hendersonville High School Hall of Fame binders are an amazing example of alumni engagement. This collection contains six issues of the binders, dating from 1999 to 2006. Each binder includes details on the year’s nominees, including letters of recommendations, newspaper clippings, CVs and resumes, and even full research papers! Hendersonville High School alumni are successful in a wide variety of careers. They are marine archaeologists, entrepreneurs, and even Super Bowl winners. Each nominee’s reflections on their time in high school are included in these binders, attributing their success to the lessons they learned at Hendersonville.
The spirit of Hendersonville High School pride is fully visualized in the clothing included in this collection. Bearcat pride is emblazoned on tee shirts, basketball uniforms, sweaters, and fleece pullovers. The clothing dates back as far back as the mid-twentieth century to the 21st; a wide span of time wherein Bearcat pride is a constant. The uniforms and sweaters are gorgeous examples of vintage school fashion, each displaying a level of detail-work and craftsmanship not often seen in modern schools. The basketball shorts, for example, have custom belts with embroidered belt-holes. Not impressed? The fleece pullover has a capelet! A full capelet!! Each piece of clothing exemplifies the attachment Hendersonville High School students, faculty, and alumni have to their school, and their presence online in DigitalNC is a special treat! You can find the new collection of Hall of Fame binders and clothing online now at DigitalNC here.
You can also find an amazing collection of new yearbooks from Hendersonville High School online now at DigitalNC here. Thanks again to our fantastic partners at the Hendersonville High School Alumni Association for making these materials available online. Interested in learning more about Hendersonville High School? You can find the Hendersonville High School Alumni Association partner page online at DigitalNC here, or visit the association’s website online here.
Thanks to our amazing partners at Wilkes Community College, DigitalNC is pleased to announce that six new songs and poems are now available online! These new (old) recordings were performed on March 25th, 1944 by James Larkin and Eleanor Pearson. They were pressed into vinyl records, before being digitized and uploaded for the very first time on DigitalNC! This collection includes two songs sung by Eleanor, and four poems written and recited by James.
James Larkin Pearson was the second Poet Laureate of North Carolina. He lived much of his life in the mountains of the state, and was a prominent artistic and political voice during the twentieth century. Pearson published several popular issues of both poetry and prose, which were widely received during his life. He was also a prominent newspaper publisher, and used the paper to platform often controversial political views such as socialism and anti-war perspectives.
In these recordings, Pearson’s poems reflect on his life in and around Wilkesboro, North Carolina. His rural perspective includes themes centered around the beauty of nature, self-sustainability, and forming connections within his community. A few poems include his ruminations on the second World War, which had yet to end at the time of the poems’ recording. He includes his wishes for world peace, which he believes will be attained not through the act of heroic sacrifice, but through heroic living. Throughout his poems, Eleanor occasionally provides commentary and her own opinions on James’ poems, occasionally correcting him on the poems’ context (ie., when and where he wrote them).
Eleanor herself performs the songs “At Dawning” and “I Love You Truly.” Both songs are performed without instrumentation, centering Eleanor’s vocal performance within the recording. The songs were popular folk songs performed by parlor and folk singers during the early twentieth century, and include themes of romance, love everlasting, and renewal. Eleanor and James’ creative endeavors intersect and run parallel to each other, reflecting the couple’s own relationship.
You can find these six new recordings online now at DigitalNC here. Interested in learning more about life in Wilkes County, North Carolina? You can find more materials (including many fantastic recordings) from our amazing partners at Wilkes Community College online now at their partner page here. Thanks again to Wilkes Community College for providing access to these beautiful poems and songs.
Thanks to our amazing partners at Southwestern Community College, DigitalNC is pleased to announce that three new scrapbooks and a beautiful binder of photographs are now available online in our new Swain County Cooperative Extension exhibit! The new books and images represent the rich history of community involvement in and around Swain County, especially the efforts of the county’s 4-H and agricultural extension clubs. They include materials that date as far back as 1955, up until as recently as 2009.
4-H and other agricultural extension clubs were established in the mid-nineteenth century to foster community engagement with local agricultural resources and practices. The scrapbooks record these programs in actions, including community cattle judging contests, workshops on canning and babysitting, and school field trips to farms and forests. Clubs were often supported by both state and federal agencies, and Swain County’s programs were so successful they even gained a visit from Governor Dan Moore! A full range of agricultural programs are represented in the photos and clippings found in this collection, and they’re an excellent representation of the variety of industries that can be found in North Carolina, from tobacco and corn fields to vintage photos of cattle, swine, and sheep.
One of the best-represented 4-H programs found in this collection is Camp Swannanoa, a local summer camp that hosted Swain County’s students during school-time breaks. Camp Swannanoa is the platonic ideal of a classic summer camp in the woods of North Carolina, complete with old-school log cabins, campfire songs, and an archery range. One scrapbook is completely devoted to Swannanoa, recording the course of a typical summer from the arrival of counselors to the departure of campers on the last day. The scrapbook also records events organized in the off-season, such as workshops on gardening and community-beautification projects. It’s an excellent representation of 4-H clubs’ impacts on local communities, and the other scrapbooks are full of similar stories.
You can find the new photo album and scrapbooks online now at DigitalNC here. Thanks again to our fantastic partners at Southwestern Community College. You can find more records relating to the Swain County at DigitalNC’s new exhibit, the Swain County Cooperative Extension, here. Interested in finding more records relating to 4-H clubs? Try searching DigitalNC’s image collections here, or our general holdings of 4-H history here.
Thanks to our amazing partners at the Granville County Public Library, DigitalNC is proud to announce that a brand new collection of Tar Heel history is now available online! This amazing collection includes over seventy new issues of The Norlina Headlight (Norlina, N.C.), as well as three stunning ledger books from the nineteenth century. Both formats offer unique glimpses into different historical aspects of the Old North State, whether it’s news coverage of the second World War or commerce during the Victorian age.
The brand new issues of The Norlina Headlight are at once concentrated and comprehensive. Ranging primarily from 1938 to 1945 (with one issue from 1917!), this collection contains over five hundred pages covering American involvement in World War II, from the advent of appeasement to VE Day and beyond. While The Norlina Headlight operated primarily out of Warren County, the paper’s ambitious scope included syndicated columns and cartoons from across the country, bringing a local touch to popular topics. These issues offer an excellent timeline of popular sentiment in North Carolina during the war, with coverage of both international theaters and domestic spheres. They present a unique glimpse into a single community’s reactions, opinions, and concerns during one of history’s most fraught eras. These new issues will join an existing collection of over four hundred issues already hosted online by DigitalNC, which goes as far back as 1914.
Fans of detailed records may also enjoy the three new ledgers included in this new collection. The ledgers range from 1857 to 1860, and record business conducted within Vance County, North Carolina. Two of the ledgers were written by John H. Riggans as part of his local general store, and both issues have a touching amount of detail within their bindings. For instance, at the start of the 1860 ledger, Riggans makes use of the ex libris page to practice his signature. Several attempts of various styles are recorded, potentially with different types of pen. While it’s unclear which signature Riggans settled on, the books are filled with similar personal touches. While some may view financial records as dry and quantitative, these ledgers contain traces of those that crossed through the stores and taverns of centuries past. Habits, relationships, and daily schedules are recorded on each page, for better or worse (some patrons of the Townsville Tavern, for instance, may be a bit bashful of the quantity of peach brandy they imbibed on Sundry Sunday).
You can find the three new old ledgers online now at DigitalNC here. If you’d like to read through the new issues of the Norlina Headlight, you can find them online at DigitalNC here.
Thanks again to our amazing partners at the Granville County Public Library for making these spectacular records available. You can learn more about Granville County Public Library at their DigitalNC contributor page here, or by visiting their website online here.
Interested in finding more traces of humanity in financial documents? Try exploring DigitalNC’s collections of ledgers,receipts, and other financial records.
Thanks to our amazing partners at the North Carolina Society Daughters of 1812, DigitalNC is proud to announce that six new scrapbooks are now available online! These stunning scrapbooks beautifully chronicle six years of society activities, including historic reenactments, fundraising banquets, and historic preservation initiatives. Each chapter across North Carolina is represented in each scrapbook, and every issue is a stunning representation of the history that can be found across the state.
Each chapter’s title page is colorful and unique, like this Charles Gause Chapter page from the 2015 scrapbook.
The scrapbooks encompass nearly a decade of recent activities conducted by the state chapter. They join six other scrapbooks currently available on DigitalNC, effectively doubling the society’s digital documentary record. The new scrapbooks cover the following years:
Each book includes content created by chapters located across the state, from Hendersonville to Wilmington. Each state chapter has their own unique method of recording their history, making each year’s scrapbook a colorful collection of contributions. For instance, the Commissioner Charles Gause Chapter of Wilmington consistently includes records of their awards to JROTC units in local high schools, while the Snap Dragon Chapter of Lumberton decorates their pages with paper-craft ships and naval motifs. Certificates awarded to the North Carolina Society also fill the pages of these scrapbooks, recognizing the society’s commitment to supporting students, veterans, and historic preservation.
Thanks to our fantastic partners at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, DigitalNC is proud to announce the digital debut of a brand new newspaper title— Carolina Lesbian News (Charlotte, N.C.)! Initially based in Charlotte, this bimonthly paper served North Carolina’s queer community interests, with a special focus on the lesbian community. Each issue has an impressive amount of depth and coverage, averaging around twenty full sized pages for each edition. This collection ranges from the initial issue published in 1997 to 1999, and totals a tidy sixteen issues.
The period covered in these issues was one of political and social change. Violence and discrimination against lesbians is often examined in these pages, but are counterbalanced by narratives of hope, activism, and community-building. Carolina Lesbian News was established to connect members of the community, who often felt isolated or alienated. Each issue gave space to a Lesbian Resource Directory, which provided information on local social events, LGBT-friendly businesses, and numbers for hotlines and networking groups. An indefatigable hope runs through the paper: progress and recognition was achieved through activist efforts recorded in the paper, and later issues proudly announce federal recognition of Pride Month in June, 1999.
The collections’ origins in the late nineties also provide a unique glimpse into how community groups communicated and supported each other at the advent of the digital age. At the start of the publication’s run, an editorial claims the paper was established as a reaction to other traditional lesbian spaces and publications diminishing. Access to community resources often relied on information found in the newspaper, such as phone numbers for organizations, an updated and reliable social calendar, and even just the presence of words of other like-minded individuals. While many modes of support have since been replaced by the Internet, there’s something unique and personal about this period of community. Many of the same authors return to the paper with each issue, local businesses become familiar when they continue to voice their support, and a wide range of lesbian life is explored in each issue: from new music releases to poetry to cartoons to spirituality. Each page is both a conversation and a celebration of the lesbian experience, grounded in a moment both distant and familiar.
Thanks once again to our fantastic partners at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for making this collection available online. If you’d like to see more records contributed by UNC Charlotte, you can visit their partner page on DigitalNC here, or explore the university’s website online here.
Interested in exploring more records related to North Carolina’s LGBT+ community? Try exploring our collection of Community Connections, an LGBT+ newspaper published in Asheville from 1987 to 2003.
Thanks to our a-MOO-zing partners at the Davidson County Public Library and the Lexington Library, DigitalNC is proud to announce that a brand new collection of directories, newsletters, and student newspapers are now available online! This varied and unique collection includes the student newspapers of Lexington and Thomasville High School, the 1957 directory of First Presbyterian in Lexington, and a MOO-nique newsletter from the Erlanger Dairy Community!
Titled the “Dairy Number,” this exciting newsletter was written by the Erlanger Cotton Mills Company in 1922—over a century ago! The newsletter advertises the unique opportunities that dairy farming provides to a community, from novel access to “milk as a beverage,” to the important nutritional value of calcium. For those reticent or intolerant of dairy as a beverage, this newsletter recommends a variety of vintage solutions: from adding sarsaparilla and raspberry to your milk, to soda fountain drinks such as egg creams (which contain neither eggs nor cream). The recipes, along with other articles on history and nutrition, offer a calf-tivating glimpse at the ways in which an industry can suffuse each part of a community’s life.
Indeed, the pride of Erlanger’s dairyman suffuses each page of this newsletter: poems are penned to the overseer of the mill, outstanding employees are profiled, and news from across town is communicated in the pages of the newsletter. It’s not just human employees that are honored, either: this newsletter is chockablock with notable bovine. Photos of newborn calves are treated with equal import to the Erlanger Baby Page. Chief dairy cows are photographed, along with their names and record-setting statistics. My personal favorite bovine is Mr. Romeny of Maple Grove, the distinguished senior herd sire of the mill; but other readers may form their own attachments to other charismatic cattle like Victoria and Double Finance.
If you’d rather STEER clear of The Erlanger Dairy, you can find a more traditional historic record in the pages of the Thomasville and Lexington student newspapers. The Thomasville Student News (also known as Facts & Fun) make their digital debut in this collection, and range from 1953 to 1956. This paper is especially concerned with the school’s gridiron team, whose Bulldogs frequently found a staunch rival in the Lexington High School Yellow Jackets. In light of the football rivalry, these student papers compliment each other in amusing fashion — when the Yellow Jackets trounce the Bulldogs, you’re sure to find conflicting editorials the following week.
You can find the two new newsletters (moo-sletters?) online now on DigitalNC here.
DigitalNC is dairy excited to have this collection online—thanks once again to our fantastic partners at the Davidson County Public Library and the Lexington Library for making these pieces of history available. You can find more information about the Davidson County Public Library at their DigitalNC contributor page here, and you can discover more records from the Lexington Library here.
Thanks to our partners at the New Hanover County Public Library, DigitalNC is pleased to announce that fourteen brand new issues of the Wilmington Journal (Wilmington, N.C.) are now available online! Founded in 1927, the Wilmington Journal is one of North Carolina’s oldest African-American newspaper and has published stories on local, state, and national events for nearly a century. These new issues contain almost two hundred new pages full of journalism, spanning from 1953 to 1977. They join sixteen issues already hosted online at DigitalNC, doubling the site’s holdings of the journal.
The standout issue of this collection is by far the 50th anniversary paper, published on March 12th, 1977. This stunning issue contains a whopping FIFTY-NINE pages full of current events, community stories about the paper, and letters from local businesses and readers congratulating the paper on its golden jubilee. This issue far and away outpaces previous issues of the journal, which average around 12 pages an issue. It’s a breathtaking record of the commitment and dedication the Wilmington Journal’s journalists and editors have to the paper, and the issues’ letters and advertisements are a testament to the special place the paper holds in its readers hearts.
You can find the 50th anniversary issue of the Wilmington Journal online now at DigitalNC here. Interested in reading more issues of the Wilmington Journal? You can find over two decades of the paper’s issues online at DigitalNC here. Thanks again to our amazing partners at the New Hanover County Public Library for making these issues available online. You can learn more about New Hanover County Public Library’s holdings by visiting their partner page at DigitalNC here, or by visiting the library’s website online here.
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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