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The Norlina Headlight Illuminates DigitalNC

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memorabilia newspapers

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 headline of The Norlina Headlight on June 1, 1945
This issue of the Headlight featured breaking news on victory in Germany and in the Pacific, as well as an insider look at baseball.

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.

A page with over a dozen signatures in various sizes and styles.
“The Many Signatures of John H. Riggans” (1860). Ink on paper.

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.

New Daughters of 1812 Scrapbooks Now Available!

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memorabilia scrapbooks

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.

A blue page with the dates and number of the Commissioner Charles Gause Chapter. A blue ribbon and seal decorate the top of the page
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 again to the North Carolina Daughters of 1812 for making this collaboration possible. You can find these new scrapbooks online now at DigitalNC here. Interested in learning more about the North Carolina Society Daughters of 1812? You can find their partner page on DigitalNC here, or their website online here.

The Cows Come Home in New Dairy Records

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memorabilia newspapers

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.

A black-and-white photograph of a bull.
Mr. Romeny, champion of the pasture and all-around good boy.

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.

A cartoon of a tall anthropomorphic bulldog wearing a shirt that says "School Spirit Past." He holds a tape measure to a short anthropomorphic bulldog wearing a shirt that says "School Spirit '56". The cartoon is captioned 'Will He Ever Grow Up?'
The Thomasville Bulldogs may have struggled with school spirit due to their lack of positive bovine role models.

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.

If you’d like some classic mid-century gridiron instead, you can find the Thomasville High School Student Newspaper here, and the Lexington High School Student Newspaper 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.

Plan Your Visit to the Coast with Our Latest Materials From Hyde County!

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maps memorabilia

The cover of the Lake Mattamuskeet, Hyde Mainland [1965-1966] guide book. The cover features a picture of a white lighthouse, framed by a tree branch. Additionally, the cover features light yellow text that reads "Lake Mattamuskeet, Hyde Mainland 1965-66. Ocracoke, Hyde Coast"
Cover of the Lake Mattamuskeet, Hyde Mainland [1965-1966] Guide Book

With help from our partners at Friends of Hyde Countys Historic 1854 Courthouse, we are excited to announce dozens of brochures, maps, and other materials related to local Hyde County history, events and sites are now available on DigitalNC!

When planning your next visit to the coast, look no further than the information-packed brochures and maps that represent a long history of tourism in Hyde County. In addition to these materials, four binders document the history of Mattamuskeet Lodge from 1990-2000 to 2001-2017, publications featuring the lodge, and the history of the lodge’s annual event, Swan Days. Also in this batch is a 1960s guidebook that features information about activities such as bird watching, hunting, and fishing around Lake Mattamuskeet, Ocracoke Island, and Hyde County.

The final gem in this newest batch of materials from the Friends of Hyde Countys Historic 1854 Courthouse is a chattel mortgage book from the end of the 19th-century. This ledger book, used from 1877 to 1899, records the mortgage contracts and agreements brought before judges and officials across Hyde County. The more than two decade span of entries in this book makes its an incredibly rich source of information about Hyde County in the late 19th-century. It includes mortgage agreements documented by many individual officials who held different posts. Importantly, this can tell us not only the names of officials in Hyde County, but also the structure of the local government during this time. In addition, the agreements recorded in the chattel mortgage book provides a glimpse at the relationships that existed between the residents of Hyde County and offers potential insight into the economic and material realities of the time.

The front cover of the chattel mortgage book. Written in brown on the book's front label is "Chattel Mortgage Record Book No. 2. July 17th, 1877 to Feb 22nd, 1899". The rest of the cover features a golden brown marbled pattern that is worn and flaked in some areas.
A page inside of the Chattel Mortgage Record Book No. 2 which features the documentation a mortgage agreement written and signed by a local official.
Front cover and inside page from the Chattel Mortgage Record Book No. 2

More information about our partner, Friends of Hyde Countys Historic 1854 Courthouse, can be found on their Facebook page here.

More materials, including an report on the historic Hyde County 1854 Courthouse, can be found on the Friends of Hyde Countys Historic 1854 Courthouse’s contributor page, which is linked here.

Publications and Posters from Forsyth Tech Community College!

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A colorful poster that includes skyscrapers, prominent buildings and sites, and people from Winston-Salem that are digitally collaged together.
Winston-Salem Poster

With help from our partners at Forsyth Tech Community College, we are excited to announce that dozens of new materials including newsletters, commencement programs, handbooks, and posters are now available on DigitalNC! This latest batch of materials includes publications from and about Forsyth Tech Community College from 1991 to 2024. Be sure to check out new issues of Information Weekly, the weekly newsletter published by the college, and new issues of InTouch, the faculty and staff newsletter!

More information about our partner, Forsyth Tech Community College, can be found on their website here. 

Information about Forsyth Tech Community College’s Library resources and offerings can be found here.

More materials, including yearbooks, scrapbooks, catalogs, and a newspaper, can be found on Forsyth Tech Community College’s contributor page, which is linked here.

Scrapbooks, Newspapers, and More From High Point!

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The title page of the High Point High School Student Newspaper, The Pointer.
Front page from The Pointer (May 2, 1940)

With the help of our partners at High Point Museum and the Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library, we are excited to announce the addition of new scrapbooks, programs, newsletters, and newspapers to DigitalNC. New issues of several newspaper titles include the Penn-Griffin School for the Arts Student Newspaper The Students’ Pen, the Adams-Millis Corporation’s Amco News, Melrose Hosiery Mills’ Mel-Rose-Glen, the High Point Junior High School Student Newspaper the Junior Pointer, and the High Point High School Student Newspaper The Pointer.

The cover illustration of the program book for St. Mary's Episcopal Church's 100-year anniversary. The cover features a black-and-white sketch of a church, with a smaller second sketch of church featured in an inset on the bottom righthand corner.
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Celebrating 100 Years

Along with several newspaper issues, this latest batch of materials from our partners also includes various religious publications. Local religious history can be seen through programs related to Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church and B’Nai Israel Synagogue. Additionally, The New Tar Heel Bulletin, the newsletter published by the North Carolina Christian Endeavor Union, and The C.E. News Reel, published by the High Point City (Christian Endeavor) Union Executive Committee, represent both local and state chapter publications of the international organization the Christian Endeavor.

New materials available on DigitalNC also relate to other community organizations such as a 1941-1942 directory for the Alpha Art Club, which, founded in 1924, is the oldest-known African American women’s club in the Piedmont Triad area. Additionally, two scrapbooks from the High Point Exchangette Club covers twenty years of the group’s community service activities. A final item, from the Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library, is a Farm Plat Book and Business Guide of Guilford County that includes maps and the names of landowners around Guilford County.

A page of a book featuring a black-and-white map of Guilford County. The map features major roadways, cities, and landmarks, along with a map legend to the right of the page.
Farm Plat Book and Business Guide, Guilford County, N.C.

More information about our partner, High Point Museum, can be found here. 

More scrapbooks, newspaper titles, yearbooks, and church records can be found on the High Point Museum’s contributor page linked here. 

More information about our partner, Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library, can be found here. 

Additional materials, including scrapbooks, yearbooks, and directories can be found on the Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library’s contributor page linked here.

Community Theater Comes to Life in New Little Theatre Posters

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memorabilia

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!

Railroad Records Chug Into DigitalNC Station

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memorabilia photos yearbooks

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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memorabilia

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.

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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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