61 issues of The Laurinburg Exchange have been newly digitized and added to DigitalNC. These are the first issues from The Laurinburg Exchange to be added to our collection, covering dates and issues from August 1889 to December 1926. Published since 1882, The Laurinburg Exchange serves the readers of Laurinburg and Scotland County to this day. The Exchange joins two other newspapers in our collection that cover Scotland County: the student newspapers for Presbyterian Junior College and St. Andrews University.
Looking through these newspapers, many of the articles are about local issues concerning the citizens and residents of Scotland County. Municipal issues, like elections and political developments, were written about especially often. Some news from throughout the state was also posted in the Exchange. However, its coverage was mostly focused on local issues – at any moment, the paper might have been notifying residents of changes in their courts or new stocked items in local businesses, or for example, warning residents about a local fever outbreak. In the photo on the right, the Exchange published a list of required books and associated course prices for local high schoolers.
Adding The Laurinburg Exchange to our collection represents a new wealth of knowledge about the lives of ordinary North Carolinians at the turn of the 20th century.