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Hometown News Finds New Home on DigitalNC

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The title block of the Hometown News, underlined with a green bar
Welcome home, Hometown News! This title is the earliest we have currently online, from October 2007

Thanks to our partners at the W. B. Wicker Alumni Association, DigitalNC is proud to announce that a brand new title, the Hometown News, is now available online! This is the debut batch for the Hometown News, and what a collection it is! This amazing collection includes thirteen years of monthly issues, from 2007 to 2010 — when you do the math, that adds up to over 140 issues spanning 1,628 pages.

Each issue of Hometown News is an amazing record of events and stories from Lee, Moore, and Chatham counties, areas that encompass the central Sandhills and include major towns such as Pinehurst and Sanford. Over the last thirteen years, the region has seen rapid growth and development, due in part to its proximity to Fort Bragg and the attention gained from hosting events such as the US Open. Despite the region’s growth, the News’ attention to local figures and community events retains a familiar and local quality to the paper, which often feature events such as the annual Jabberwock Pageant.

An article announcing the winner of the 2013 Jabberwock pageant, Alexis Brower. A color photo is included.
Each page of the Hometown News features fantastic color photos and illustrations, like this article announcing the 2013 Miss Jabberwock

Hosted by the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Jabberwock Pageant is a cultural enrichment event inspired by Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Jabberwock.” Each year, the Hometown News advertised the local pageant hosted by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and every year the winner of the pageant (known as Miss Jabberwock) would be featured by the Hometown News. Many other events often ignored by larger and more conventional publications can be found within the Hometown News, which covers each corner of the Sandhills with a special care and attention.

You can find each issue included in this extraordinary collection online now at DigitalNC here. Thanks again to our fantastic partners at the W. B. Wicker Alumni Association for making this title available on DigitalNC. If you’re interested in learning more about Lee County history, you can find a host of amazing materials at the W. B. Wicker Alumni Association contributor page on DigitalNC here.

Community Theater Comes to Life in New Little Theatre Posters

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Thanks to our amazing new partners at the Little Theatre in Winston-Salem, DigitalNC is proud to announce that hundreds of new show posters and playbills are now available online! Little Theatre’s debut batch on DigitalNC features colorful, bombastic history across nearly a century of play-making. The Little Theatre of Winston-Salem is one of the oldest theatrical associations in Forsyth County, and has continuously produced nearly a century of community theater. This year, the Little Theatre celebrates its ninetieth season of operation; and what better way to celebrate a storied history, than by sharing it online?!

A playbill for Life With Father, featuring an illustration of a bulldog wearing a bow
Many of the playbills and posters feature colorful illustrations and designs, like this sartorial canine from “Life With Father.”

This brand new collection features nearly two hundred individual records, many of which include multiple playbills arranged by season. The earliest playbills hail from as early as 1937 to as recently as 2023. Topics range from serious straight plays by Tennessee Williams to children’s Christmas pageants and musicals. Anyone interested in theater, Winston-Salem, or dramaturgy is sure to find something of interest in this collection.

A signed show poster for a 2019 production of "Man of La Mancha"
Productions hosted at Little Theatre run the gamut, from popular musicals to classic straight plays.

Looking through show posters and playbills is an amazing way to watch art and design develop across the decades. Each playbill and show poster feature extensive illustrations that demonstrate contemporary design sensibilities. Playbills from the 1960s and 1970s often feature beautiful hand-drawn illustrations, while playbills from the 1990s and 2000s showcase artistic interest in digital art and Photoshop. Arsenic and Old Lace, an Agatha Christie murder mystery, looks drastically different in 1950 than it does five decades later. And while the design of playbills changes through the decades, Little Theatre grows and changes in perfect parallel. The theater’s 1937 season only featured four straight plays put on by a limited cast of actors. In 2023, the Little Theatre produced multiple feature length musicals, organized children’s acting programs and productions, and hosted a variety of acting troupes on its stage in Winston-Salem. However much design and programming may change, a commitment to local artists and entertainers runs through each record in every decade.

You can find these brand new show posters and playbills online now at DigitalNC here. Thanks again to our amazing partners at the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem for making this amazing debut collaboration possible. You can find out more about the Little Theatre at DigitalNC’s partner page here, or online at the theatre’s website here. Here’s to an amazing 90th Season!

New Issues of The Pilot Land Online!

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A cartoon of an owl resting on a crescent moon.
Rounds often combined his humor with his appreciation of the natural world.

Thanks to our partners at the Moore County Genealogical Society, DigitalNC is proud to announce that over a hundred new issues of The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.) are now available! The Pilot has faithfully served the Sandhills region for over a century, and already has an amazing digital presence on DigitalNC with over 3,000 issues currently available. The new issues are from 1970 to 1971 and feature stories fresh from the golf capital of North Carolina.

Excitingly, the illustrations of Glen Rounds are featured in many of these new editions. Rounds was a prominent illustrator and children’s author during the late half of the twentieth century, and he lived in Pinehurst, N.C. for decades. He was a six-time winner of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was a recipient of the Kerlan Award for Children’s Literature. In 1980, Rounds received the North Carolina Award for his achievements—which is the highest civilian award a citizen of the state can receive. His works evoked the splendor of the natural world around him, which often included North Carolina’s flora and fauna. You may recognize his unique style from his illustrations of stories such as Wild Appaloosa, Beavers, or his edition of The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. The author of this blog grew up in Moore County, and has fond memories of reading Rounds, whose publications often lined the shelves of local libraries and book stores.

Sketches of figures seen at Stoneybrook. Couples set up tables and friends share drinks.
Rounds’ humor is on full display in many of his cartoons in The Pilot, such as his scenes from Stoneybrook, a popular horse race, which feature no horses
A cartoon of a beaver resting on a pile of papers, office supplies, and bottles.
Okay, just one more Rounds cartoon, I promise.

Beyond Glen Rounds’ inclusion in these issues, The Pilot chronicles the Sandhills masterfully. During the 1970s, towns such as Pinehurst, Southern Pines, and Carthage were communities unrivaled by any in the state. Pinehurst had been a prominent resort town for decades, and the rest of Moore County was used to hosting a wide range of golfers, tourists, and equestrians within its quiet pines. This focus on hospitality created an atmosphere where local businesses were bolstered and natural beauty was preserved. Many of the businesses advertised in the pages still stand today as local staples, such as The Jefferson Inn or the Sunrise Theater. Transplants to Southern Pines, The Pilot‘s home, often liken the area to fictional communities such as Stars Hollow from the Gilmore Girls or Sleepy Hollow. Looking back on old editions of The Pilot is a wonderful way of learning more about the Sandhills region, one of our state’s gems.

You can find the new editions of The Pilot now online at DigitalNC here. Thanks again to our wonderful partners at the Moore County Genealogical Society for making this collaboration possible. You can learn more about the Society on their partner page linked here. If you’re interested in learning more about Moore County (and who could blame you?), you can find all of DigitalNC’s holdings of The Pilot online here.

Railroad Records Chug Into DigitalNC Station

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Thanks to our partners at the Railroad House Historical Association and Museum in Sanford, North Carolina, DigitalNC is proud to announce that a variety of records relating to our state’s railroad history are now available online! Ranging from as far back as 1894 (and as recently as 1984!), these materials encompass a variety of aspects relating to our state’s steam engines — from coal mining to passenger rail. They will join an already existing collection of materials from the Railroad House Museum uploaded earlier this year, deepening the digital presence of Lee County’s oldest building. Materials in this batch include annual reports, newspaper clippings, and ration books, as well as a collection of local high school yearbooks.

The front page of the Langdon-Henszey mortgage bill.
The front page of the Langdon-Henszey mortgage bill.

Ardent railroad fans will be pleased to know that DigitalNC now has a modest collection of Rail South, a bimonthly magazine written by and for locomotive aficionados. Each issue featured stories on train-spotting across the Southeastern United States, as well as updates on the construction and operation of major rail lines across North Carolina. Letters from conductors, union leaders, and trainspotters were also featured in each issue, granting the magazine a community-oriented and grassroots feel. Even if you’re not a train-head, these magazines are a fascinating glimpse into an industry, sub-culture, and even hobby that you may be unaware of. It’s somewhat amusing to flip through each issue and read perspectives on apparently longstanding and contentious topics, such as the disappearance of Chessie Coal Trains, or the relative rarity of color slides depicting “ICG SW14s.”

A personal highlight of this collection, however, is a mortgage deed dating from 1894. The deed was issued by the Langdon-Henszey Coal Mining Company for five hundred dollars, which was due in full twenty years after being issued. These deeds were given by the company to workers based out of then-Egypt, North Carolina (now known as Lumnock). It included stamps that were dated with each payment amount and due-date. The document is a wonderful piece of mining history, and demonstrates the centrality of coal corporations to its employees. On a logistical level, it’s wild to see how mortgage deeds worked before the advent of modern payment methods — before digital banking, one’s entire history resided in one collection of card-stock.

The front cover of a War Ration Book, given to Archie M Hubbard
The front cover of this batch’s War Ration Book, given to Archie M Hubbard

Also included in this collection is a ration book from the second world war, which also charged its owner with maintaining a collection of stamps — to be cashed in exchange for household goods such as sugar, flour, and cloth. The book was created just fifty years after the Langdon-Henszey mortgage, and similarly grants us a glimpse into the everyday logistics of a pre-digital age. It’s interesting to note that neither the mortgage nor the ration book are exhausted of their stamps, suggesting that the recipient of the ration-book was perhaps more fiscally secure than the grantee of the mortgage.

Other items of note in this collection include dedication programs for railroad depots, timetables for passenger train rails to Asheville, and a written account of locomotive history within North Carolina. You can find the new rail memorabilia and yearbooks online now at DigitalNC. Interested in learning more about Lee County history? You can find our partners at the Railroad House Historical Association and Museum online at their partner page here, or search our collections by location here. Thanks again to our wonderful partners at the Railroad House Historical Association and Museum for making these records available.

Carolina College Commemorated In New Collection

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Thanks to our fantastic partner at Methodist University, DigitalNC is pleased to announce that new materials focusing on Carolina College are now available online! These new records consist of four newspaper clipping transcriptions and an original book, all written and published during the twentieth century in the North Carolina Piedmont. The clippings heavily feature North Carolina Methodist publications from as early as 1906 to as late as 1928, and many were compiled by Esther Evans, an alumna of Carolina College. Both the clippings and transcriptions are an incredible example of the devotion and commitment inspired by Carolina College, and are amazing examples of historic preservation initiatives. Included in this collection are the following transcriptions:

A black-and-white photograph of a young woman in front of a brick wall.
One of Carolina College’s students, as recorded in Carolina Echoes

One of the highlights of this collection is a fully digitized copy of Carolina Echoes: A History of Carolina College. The book is a stunning record of Carolina College and its focus on serving female students in and around Maxton, North Carolina. The book follows Carolina College from its inception in 1912 to its closure in 1928, and was written by Dorothy Collins. Notably, this issue was donated to Methodist University by Taylor McMillan, the son of Rhoda Holden McMillan. Mrs. McMillan graduated from Carolina College in 1920 and was the second president of the Carolina College Alumnae Association. This issue includes McMillan’s hand-written corrections and annotations to the text, which provide a wonderful dimension to the written history of the College. The published historical narrative and the hand-written annotations create an engaging dialogue, sometimes developing minor anecdotes into full stories of their own. The issue is a spectacular example of how commemoration, history, and narrative can combine in a single archival record.

You can find each transcribed collection of clippings, as well as Carolina Echoes, online now at DigitalNC here. Thanks again to our amazing partners at Methodist University for digitizing these records and for making them available online. You can learn more about Methodist University online at DigitalNC by visiting their partner page here, or by visiting their website online here. Interested in learning more about Carolina College? Try searching DigitalNC by keyword or location here.

Minutes, Membership, and More in New Masonic Memorabilia!

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A blue book cover with 'LODGE RECORD' written in yellow lettering around the Mason logo.
Detail from the cover of Minute Book No. 4, from the Louisburg Lodge

Thanks to our amazing partners at the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina, DigitalNC is pleased to announce a stunning collection of ledgers is now available online! These twelve new ledgers include meeting minutes, membership rolls, and correspondences between members of the Masonic Lodges across North Carolina. They cover a breathtaking span of history, and have been meticulously attended to both in their creation and preservation. The oldest ledger dates all the way back to 1853, while the most recent book was logged as recently as 1994. Generations of Masons are chronicled in these books, and each book records how Lodges change over the course of decades. Meticulous notes are maintained in each volume, befitting North Carolina’s oldest and largest fraternal organization.

A Mark Masters Mark: three circles with signatures of a Lodge's members
One of the Mark Masters Marks in Minute Book No. 1 of the Louisburg Chapter of Masons.

Many of the new ledgers hail from the Louisburg Chapter No. 26 of the Royal Masons. Each account book was maintained by a designated Mason, each of whom had their own particular method of note-taking and minute-recording. The individual nature of the note-takers provides a sense of individuality and personality to each book, which are otherwise uniform in their scope. A particular highlight from these books are the “Mark Masters Book of Marks” from Book No. 1. Found near the back of the ledger, the author has drawn a series of circles wherein other Masons have signed their names. The regularity of the signatures and the accuracy of the circles are beautiful, especially considering the age of the volume. Each volume is similarly filled with tantalizing glimpses into the often secret operations of Masonic Lodges (for instance, did you know that each Masonic year begins on October 31st?).

You can find more of these Mark Masters circles, as well as over a century of meticulous North Carolina record-keeping, online now at DigitalNC here. Thanks again to our amazing partners at the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina for making these stunning account books available online. If you’re interested in finding more records from the Grand Lodge, you can find their DigitalNC partner page here.

The Wilmington Morning Star Shines on DigitalNC

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Thanks to our amazing partners at the New Hanover County Public Library, DigitalNC is proud to announce that new issues of the Wilmington Morning Star are now available online! These new issues cover daily life in Wilmington from over a century ago — in the far-flung year of 1924. They will join over twenty thousand issues currently available online, ranging from as far back as 1867 and as recently as 1947!

A photo of a dog resembling an Australian shepherd.
Laddie, the hero dog!

The 1924 issues of The Wilmington Morning Star cover a revolutionary and exciting period of American life — Wilmington residents wrote fervently on international politics, women gained increased autonomy in social and professional spheres, and advancements in technology increased both quality of life and access to information. For the first time ever, mankind could fly, speak through airwaves, and even file for divorce. In a time when societal and technological advancements revolutionized America’s understanding of possibility, the unbelievable became believable. All of these factors lead to some interesting articles in The Wilmington Morning Star — such as Laddie the hero dog answering phone calls, or psychic visions reuniting lost sons with their mothers.

A newspaper article reading 'Ambassadors reach Asheville to attend Vanderbilt nuptials. Sir Esme Howard, Senor Riano of Spain, Henry White and other Notables. Included Among Arrivals. Old English Custom Observed by Servants. Gather by candle light at dusk and serenade bride to be, then give her their presents.'
One of many updates on Miss Vanderbilt’s engagement

Closer to home, The Wilmington Morning Star paid special mind to the nuptials of the Biltmore Vanderbilts. In 1924, Miss Cornelia Vanderbilt announced her nuptials only two years after her societal debut. In an announcement to the Times, Miss Cornelia Vanderbilt announced her engagement to the Honorable John F. A. Cecil, the then secretary of the British embassy in Washington. The paper breathlessly followed the engagement, wedding, and reception over the span of 1924, and updates were frequently posted on the front page of its society section. Common topics include Miss Vanderbilt’s wintering at the Biltmore, her rumored meeting of Cecil, and their many appearances in polite society. These articles were often sandwiched between updates on the proliferation of divorce across the country, which struck many with apprehension on marriage. Reading through these stories evokes an atmosphere similar to a Regency romance: is John Cecil marrying into the Vanderbilt family for the right reasons? How do Miss Vanderbilt’s parents feel about her engagement? Will the marriage take place at the Biltmore in Asheville, or even Raleigh? Who will cater? It’s reassuring to see the cult of celebrity through the retrospective lens of a century, and one is struck by the similarities between the idle rich of yesteryear and today.

You can read all about psychic dogs and Vanderbilt family right now at DigitalNC here. Interested in reading more issues of The Wilmington Star? You can find our collection of over twenty thousand issues online now at DigitalNC here. Thanks again to our amazing partners at the New Hanover County Public Library for making this collection available. If you’re interested in learning more about our partners, you can find their page on DigitalNC here, or visit their website online here.

Boarding Schools and More Represented in New Yearbooks

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Thanks to our partners at the Henderson County Education History Initiative, fifteen new yearbooks are now available on DigitalNC. The new yearbooks range from 1942 to 1974, and represent a variety of local schools across Henderson County. Among these schools are:

West Henderson High School
Flat Rock High School
East Henderson High School
Blue Ridge Community College
Edneyville High School
The Fassifern School for Girls
The Blue Ridge School for Boys

Almost every one of these schools is already represented online at DigitalNC, and the addition of new yearbooks will further deepen their digitized documentary presence.

The 1948 cover of the Sapphire yearbook

The Fassifern School for Girls, however, is a brand-new addition to DigitalNC’s holdings. The school was founded in 1907 in Lincolnton, NC, but was moved to Hendersonville in 1911. It was established by Kate Shipp, and received its name after Shipp’s ancestral home in Scotland. Fassifern was regarded as a prestigious institution during its operation, and provided instructional training for girls who later attended universities such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wellesley, and Vassar. Fassifern was known for the emphasis it placed on individualized instruction, and few of its classes exceeded twenty pupils. The school even provided certificates in business management and ownership to its students as early as 1918, which was particularly unusual for an all-girls school. Unfortunately, the school closed in 1952 after falling on hard times.

You can learn more about the Fassifern School for Girls, along with all the other wonderful schools across Henderson County, online now at NC Digital here. Thanks again to our wonderful partners at the Henderson County Education History Initiative for making these beautiful yearbooks available online. You can find more about the Initiative by locating their partner page at NC Digital here, or on their Facebook page here.

Football Programs From Hendersonville High School Now Online!

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A vintage painting of a high school football player about to spike towards a startled squirrel.
https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/251731?ln=en&v=uv

Thanks to our partner at Hendersonville High School Alumni Association, we have a new batch of materials that includes decades of the Red & White, Hendersonville High’s premier student newspaper, along with dozens of athletic programs. These programs date as far back as the 1950s, when students danced the sock-hop at Homecoming, to as recently as 2015! Issues of the Red & White will join an existing collection of nearly three hundred issues, nearly doubling the digitized collection. Both the athletic programs and the newspapers are suffused with the love that students and alumni hold for Hendersonville High School, and are an amazing example of community publications.

Going through decades of Hendersonville High School’s athletic programs are an amazing way of feeling this love. Each issue is full of sponsors from local businesses, many of which tout their Bearcat Pride. Older issues of the programs even have full-color illustrations and covers sourced from students and local artists. As the decades progress, these programs get thicker and thicker, as more sports (and alumni sponsors!) are added to the school’s athletic season. While a sport’s uniforms, players, and coaches may change throughout the years, Bearcat Pride stays the same!

At this point, non-Hendersonville-onians may be curious what a Bearcat is. According to student journalists at the Red & White, a bearcat (also known as a binturong) is a weasel-like creature native to South and Southeast Asia. It has dark fur, short legs, and smells strongly of freshly popped popcorn. Decades of lore surrounding Hendersonville High School has given rise to myriad theories as to the origins of this unusual mascot, which is often depicted in the newspaper wearing a sporting tuxedo. Unfortunately, there is no definitive support for any of these theories.

If you’re interested in learning more about Bearcat apocrypha, you can find the newly digitized issues of the Red & White online now at DigitalNC here. More athletically minded readers can find the new collection of Bearcat athletic records online here. You can also find every digital record from the Hendersonville High School Alumni Association available on NC Digital at their partner page here. Thanks again to our wonderful partners at the Hendersonville High School Alumni Association for making this collaboration possible!

Lillington Literature Represented in Local Newspapers

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The title section of the Harnett County News from January 1, 1953

Thanks to our partners at the Harnett County Public Library, DigitalNC is proud to announce over a hundred new issues of the Harnett County News are now available online! Over one thousand pages across 116 issues cover nearly a decade of developments across Harnett County, chronicling the years from 1953 to 1958.

A newspaper clipping of an article that reads "Commissioners Seeking No Change in Grand Jury Term." A subheading reads "Visit of Pres. Eisenhower to Salisbury will Pep Up G.O.P"

The Harnett County News has been published in Lillington, North Carolina weekly for over a hundred years. Its initial issues were published by Henderson Steele, and the paper gradually evolved to cover not only Harnett County, but Sampson, Johnson, and other surrounding counties as well. The new issues of the title will cover a critical gap in DigitalNC’s coverage of the paper, which stretches from its inception in 1919 to as recently as 1979. They will provide a critical community perspective on the economic prosperity witnessed by Harnett County residents during the period. Hot topics found in these papers include the end of the Korean War, the arrest of Rosa Parks, and Dwight D. Eisenhower visiting Salisbury.

You can find every issue of the Harnett County News online now at DigitalNC here. Interested in learning more about the history of Harnett? Our partners at the Harnett County Public Library have an abundance of records available for your perusal online now at DigitalNC. You can find their partner page here, or visit the library’s website online 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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