We are very pleased to welcome our 170th contributing institution, the Polk County Public Library. The library, located in Columbus, N.C., recently nominated early 20th-century issues of the Polk County News and Tryon Bee for digitization. We’ve completed the work and there are now over 800 issues of the paper available online in the North Carolina Newspapers digital collection.

The Polk County News is available for the years 1902 to 1922, covering a period of rapid change in rural North Carolina. Typical of other small-town papers of that era, the News was more than just a source of local events and ads. Earlier issues carried national and international stories, serialized novels, and columns specifically for children and women. Later issues focused more on items of interest to local farmers, including regular columns on agriculture and household items. All of the papers include the social columns and local tidbits that cover the minute comings-and-goings of residents, making these old papers incredibly rich resources for anyone studying community and family history.