Thanks to our partners at the Person County Museum of History, DigitalNC is pleased to announce that decades of local papers are now available online! Many of the new issues are from the Roxboro Courier, a locally owned and operated publication based out of Roxboro, as well as several issues of the Roxboro High School Student Newspaper. The student newspaper went by many names at different points during its publication, with the issues in this collection including “The Rocketeer,” or “The Roxboro Rambler.” Together, these publications reflect life in Person County through both an adult and adolescent perspective, providing two different lens to view history through.
The Roxboro Courier issues span as far back as 1942, and as recent as 1982. Included in this collection are two notable issues: the centennial and the sesquicentennial, Both of these issues are massive, with the centennial edition containing over a hundred pages of Roxboro history! Each issue recounts Person County’s past with articles on the county’s founding, interviews with longtime locals, and advertisements from local businesses celebrating the county’s history. While the sesquicentennial edition is somewhat shorter than the centennial edition, both are valuable insights into how past publications memorialized history. These issues will join a collection of almost three thousand issues of the Roxboro Courier already hosted on DigitalNC’s site.
Also included in this batch are a series of photographs from Person County’s past. The photographs display the workers at many of the mills and tobacco warehouses located in Person County, which bolstered the area’s economy for decades. There are even a few class photographs from Person County’s schools! Could any of the students pictured be featured in the new student papers? If you discover any connections, we’d love to know in the comments down below.
The Roxboro High School Student Newspaper’s new issues reach as far back as 1938, and as recent as 1969. The pages of this publication are only somewhat less regal than the Roxboro Courier’s anniversary editions, and are written with a humorous, satirical voice. Collections of jokes, gossip columns, and comedic superlatives can be found in each issue, as well as heartfelt goodbyes to graduating seniors or longtime teachers. While contemporary events are recorded in these issues, they’re oftentimes placed next to articles recording rumors overheard in the hallway. You can find the brand new batch online here, or our entire collection of Roxboro High School’s student newspaper online here.
