Our newest partner, the Bessemer City History and Art Society, has contributed the 1964-1967 volumes of its local newspaper The Bessemer City Record. Founded in 1898, Bessemer City is a town of about 5,000 people 25 miles from Charlotte. Its newspaper shows a close-knit community at the end of an era, with many of the same names and families reoccurring throughout the publications. These volumes reveal the beginning of the transformational changes of the 1960s, and in between high school graduations, local club events, and engagement announcements are stories about the Vietnam War and its impact on the town.

Visitors to the site can also see a variety of interesting advertisements, many of which are promoting Duke Power and its supposed benefits to housewives. These newspapers could be of interest to anyone researching Bessemer City history and genealogy, advertising, 1960s North Carolina, and much more. Learn more about the Bessemer City History and Art Society here, and keep an eye out for future batches at their DigitalNC contributor page here.