Complete Collection of the Iredell Citizen Now Available

Iredell Citizen header from the paper's first issue April 15, 1998.

Photograph of a high school student playing the tuba. The caption under the photo reads, "Tuba Player Greg Davis of Lake Norman High bears down on his part during All County Honors Band practice. Photo taken by Neil Furr.

Tuba player Greg Davis.

Thanks to our partner, Iredell County Public Library, and support from the North Caroliniana Society the complete collection of the Iredell Citizen spanning from 1998 to 2008 is now available on our website. This is only one of two newspapers that we have for Iredell County.

The Iredell Citizen was first published on April 15, 1998 as a weekly newspaper for the community. The paper was focused solely on publishing articles about the individuals and happenings of the county’s community rather than national or international news stories. Popular articles topics in the Iredell Citizen include retirement, events in the community, city council updates, and obituaries. The last issue of the paper was published on June 26, 2008 after a 10 year, two month, and 11 day run.

To learn more about the Iredell County Public Library, please visit their website. To view more materials from Iredell County, please click here. To view more newspapers on DigitalNC, visit our North Carolina Newspapers collection.


Issues of The Carolinian, 1988 – 1992, Now Available on DigitalNC

jessejacksoncampaign

Coverage of the Jesse L. Jackson Presidential Campaign in 1988.

DigitalNC now has new issues of The Carolinian from 1988 to 1992. The Raleigh, NC based newspaper was a popular source of information for the African American Community in the RDU area. Each Monday and Thursday, The Carolinian informed the African American community of issues and news that affected their daily lives.

The new issues include the 1988 Presidential campaign coverage of Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, along with covering local stories from the Historical Black Colleges (HBCU) in the area, Shaw University and North Carolina Central.

shawuniversity

Coverage of the Shaw University Divinity School Heritage Event in 1988.

Still in print today, The Carolinian provides the African American community with news that takes place on the national, regional, and local levels. To see what The Carolinian looks like today, please visit their website. To view other African American community newspapers in North Carolina, visit our website here and click on African American Papers.

Special thanks to our partner the Olivia Raney Local History Library for their assistance. Visit their homepage by clicking here.

 


1956 to 1962 Issues of The Daily Record (Dunn, NC) Now Available

The Daily Record headline: Space Monkeys Are Back.

The Daily Record, May 28, 1959.

Article on the minimum age act in North Carolina passing in 1959. It states that NC was the first state below Pennsylvania to pass such a law.

Senate Passes Minimum Wage Act, May 7, 1959.

Thanks to support from the North Caroliniana Society and to our partner, Harnett County Public Library, new issues of The Daily Record are now available on our website. This batch expands our current collection of the paper to include 1956 to 1962. Published Monday through Friday, The Daily Record suppled Dunn and Harnett County with local and global news stories. Today, the paper continues to be published in Dunn, North Carolina.

Major headlines in this batch include Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to America, Russia’s announcement to send apes to the moon, the aftermath of America sending monkeys to space, and the establishment of a minimum wage in North Carolina.

Starting in 1945, citizens of North Carolina fought for the establishment of a minimum wage in the state. The article to the right, “14-Year Fight Ends; Action First In South,” highlights the establishment of a minimum wage by North Carolina’s General Assembly in 1959–the first state south of Pennsylvania to do so. The bill guaranteed that all workers in the state would be paid a minimum of 75 cents an hour, equivalent to about $6.88 an hour today. 

The Daily Record subscription and title information. This includes the publisher, subscription rates, and address.

To learn more about Harnett County Public Library, please click here.

To view all issues of The Daily Record, please click here.

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

 

 

 

 


Wilkes County Oral Histories Now Available

Thanks to our partner, Wilkes Community College, 26 new oral history recordings are now available on our website.  Thanks to our colleagues in the Southern Folklife Collection, these audio materials were digitized utilizing funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Screenshot of the TIND audio player. The audio playing is titled, "Oral History Interview with Cranor Kilby."

These oral histories all pertain to the history and citizens of Wilkes County. Topics discussed in the recordings include the history of mills, silvering mirrors, personal stories and family histories, moonshining, fur trading, education, medicine and pharmaceuticals, Fort Defiance restoration, racecar drivers, musicians, and more.

One particularly interesting recording is Cranor Kilby’s interview. In it, he discusses his early life including the first time he made money performing, his favorite instruments, music in his early years, and keeping community songs alive. According to Kilby, there are several songs which seemed to have disappeared over the years. Through his performance of these songs, he keeps them alive for the next generation of North Carolinians and Wilkes County citizens. In the second half of his interview he performs several songs, including “Groundhog,” “Sadie,” and “Turkey Buzzard.” 

To learn more about Wilkes Community College, please visit their website.

To listen to more oral histories, please click here.

To view more audiovisual materials, please visit our North Carolina Sights and Sounds collection.


1941 to 1975 Transylvania Times Issues Now Available

The Transylvania Times header. Under the header reads, "A State and National Prize-Winning Newspaper."

Picture of Margaret Rice in front of a Brevard College 1853 sign. The article details how be crowned as Queen of May.

The Transylvania Times, May 3, 1956.

Thanks to our partner, Transylvania County Library, new issues of The Transylvania Times are now available on our website. This batch includes issues from the years 1941 to 1975, adding over 1,000 issues. Published weekly, the paper focuses on education updates (such as at Brevard College and high school), music camps and performances, local and national news, and community events. Featured articles and topics from this batch include the end of World War II and the fight against polio.

Present in many issues of The Transylvania Times are advertisements and articles highlighting polio—information on the disease, how to keep your household safe and sanitized, and March of Dimes fundraisers. In 1955, the poliomyelitis (polio) vaccine was made available in the United States. In the same year, the March of Dimes organization had one of its largest fundraising efforts with the hopes of raising enough money to vaccinate nine million 1st and 2nd graders throughout the United States. In the Brevard branch of the organization, citizens were encouraged to donate what they could and to donate again. The more that the community donated to the organization, the more doses of the vaccine could be created and distributed across the country. Unfortunately the Cutter Incident (where some batches of the vaccine contained live polio virus) significantly decreased the distribution and the American people’s faith in the vaccine. Eventually that faith was restored with a revamped system of regulating vaccines and development of more polio vaccines such as the Sabin oral vaccine. Twenty-four years after the release of the first vaccine, in 1979, the United States was declared polio-free.

Advertisement for a Sabin oral polio vaccine clinic in Brevard on January 12, 1964.

The Transylvania Times, January 9, 1964.

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

To view all issues of The Transylvania Times, please click here.

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


Rockingham County Materials Now Available

Picture of teacher Ruth Wiley. Under the photo is written: Mrs. Ruth Wiley retires from teaching, "but not from life."

Mrs. Ruth Wiley, June 19, 1985.

Thanks to our partner, Rockingham County Public Library, batches containing various materials including Madison-Mayodan High School yearbooks, newspaper clippings of school classes, a hand-written history of The Black Community Heritage of Madison, and 14 issues spanning 1947 to 1997 of Rockingham County’s magazine The Advisor are now available on our website.

One highlight from this batch is the hand-written history of The Black Community Heritage of Madison. Although the material includes history of Black individuals in Madison from around the first recorded migration (~June of 1775), it focuses more heavily on after the Civil War. The work is split up into major topics such as churches, businesses, education, and civic organizations. 

In the education section, the document traces the beginning of the Madison Public School System to Mary Black Franklin. Franklin began teaching members of the community in her home and in other various places in the community that would allow her to use the space. The number of students she taught continued to grow until the first public school was founded in a two room building. Eventually, a larger building later named the “Old Hall” was purchased to give the school more space. The school was only in operation six months out of the year. Students were allowed to attend the first three months of school for free, but parents would have to pay a tax for their children to finish the final three months. This system led to the creation of the Madison Public School System.

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

For more yearbooks from across North Carolina, visit our yearbook collection.

To view more content from Rockingham County Public Library, please visit here.


Issues of The Charlotte News, 1888-1922, Added to DigitalNC

Black and white image of the top half of a newspaper page

The February 4, 1910 evening edition of The Charlotte News.

black and white newspaper article with a drawing of a horned goat with head down

From the December 19, 1888 front page of The Charlotte News.

We’ve added a whopping 10,000+ issues of The Charlotte News to DigitalNC. The paper was published daily, and these issues date from 1888-1922 (minus 1911, which has been on our website since 2012). In its first years, you’ll find front-page news under the column “Local Ripples” that would probably surprise Charlotteans today – such small details as the names of people renting certain houses, the number of people being married on the next day, or the specific ailments of local residents. The front page from December 19, 1888 even details a confrontation between a local resident and a billy goat (at right). 

Starting in 1909 you will find not only the News but also The Evening Chronicle, which was published separately for a number of years and then merged with The Charlotte News to become The Charlotte News and Evening Chronicle. In 1910 the front page boasted that it was “the only paper between Atlanta and Washington to issue morning, evening, and Sunday editions.”

With so many editions to fill, it’s not surprising that the paper covered a wide variety of international, national, and local topics. You’ll find a lot of syndicated content, but also statewide and Charlotte-area news and advertisements. When there are multiple issues per day, the morning paper contains more local and statewide news and advertisements, whereas the evening paper includes financial reports, sporting news, the women’s page, and syndicated content. 

You can view all of the issues we have online of The Charlotte News on its landing page, or browse our entire newspaper collection here.


Bertie County joins DigitalNC with the Windsor High School 1956 yearbook

Thanks to our newest partner, Russell’s Back in the Day Museum, Windsor High School’s 1956 yearbook is now available on our website. The yearbook includes a look at 1950’s fashion, the school’s senior statistics, advertisements for products and services, and various extracurricular groups present at the school in 1956.

As a result of our newest partnership with the museum, which is located in Bertie County, the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center now has at least one partner in 99 out of North Carolina’s 100 counties! 

Page titled "Drums of Death" there are five separate photos. One shows a group of cast members huddled together in 19th century fashion. The second shows two individuals talking to each other on stage. The third shows an individual in costume looking out into the audience, shocked. The third shows three individuals on set--two in chairs and one standing--looking at the camera. The final photo has 5 individuals, 4 sitting on a couch while one speaks on the phone.

Drums of Death, Winoca 1956.

Majorettes page in the 1956 Winoca yearbook. The first picture shows 5 high school students in majorette uniforms and with batons. The second photo shows the drum major in their uniform.

Majorettes, Winoca 1956.

From a young age, Russ Russell collected materials related to the Town of Windsor and Bertie County. After purchasing a house in Downtown Windsor, Russell made the decision to make his dream of opening a museum a reality by converting the house into Russell’s Back in the Day Museum. The museum serves as a vital cultural heritage center for the Town of Windsor and Bertie County community, with materials such as old high school yearbooks, signs from Bertie County, artifacts from old country stores, and much more. 

To learn more at Russell’s Back in the Day Museum, please visit here

For more yearbooks from across North Carolina, visit our yearbook collection.

To view materials from different North Carolina counties, please click here.


New Wadesboro and Anson High School Yearbooks Now Available

Thanks to our partner, Anson County Historical Society, a batch containing 40 new yearbooks from Wadesboro and Anson High School are now available on our website. These yearbooks range from between 1922 to 1967.Two individuals standing at the doors of a driver education car. The car is posed to look like it has hit a sign. The caption on the image reads "Driver training students have a lot to learn."

Wadesboro High School was built in 1922. Over a span of 45 years, new structures were slowly added to the original building. These structures included a new wing in 1950, a detached cafeteria in 1953, and a gymnasium in 1961. Six years after the addition of the gymnasium, in 1967, Wadesboro High School became a middle school. 

Wadesboro HS 1936 women's basketball team. Eight women lined up in their basketball uniforms. The coach, Coach Snuggs, is on the left.

Wadesboro High School 1936 Girls’ Basketball Team

For more yearbooks from across North Carolina, visit our yearbook collection.

To learn more about the Anson County Historical Society, please visit their website.


Three Scrapbooks From Johnston Community College Are Now Available

Thanks to our partners at Johnston Community College, DigitalNC is proud to have three scrapbooks from the mid-1970s available online. These scrapbooks add more memorabilia to our robust collection of Johnston Community College materials.

Covering the mid-1970s, these scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings on all matter of events and happenings at Johnston Community College, including added classes, the musician-in-residence, and new constructions.

To see all three scrapbooks, click here. To take a look at all the JCC materials we have available and to learn more about Johnston Community College, please visit their partner page and website.


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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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