Viewing search results for "Wayne County Public Library"
View All Posts
Sixty-eight historic photos from the Wayne County Public Library are now available on DigitalNC.org. The photos depict downtown Goldsboro primarily in the early 20th century and include some nice images of old buildings and cars, including this shot of a couple, probably just married, in a car completely covered with flowers.
We are very excited to announce that our site has expanded to include four new sets of primary source teaching resources available for any teachers, researchers, or curious explorers to use. Each of these sets focuses on a particular topic in North Carolina history and includes a curated selection of 15-20 primary sources from our 300+ partners around the state. Within each set is a blend of visual materials (photographs, videos), written materials (newspaper articles, speeches, letters), and audio materials (interviews, oral histories) from the DigitalNC collections.
Each set also comes with short context blurbs for each item, as well as general background information, a timeline, a set of discussion questions, and links to genre-specific worksheets (ex. How to Analyze a Newspaper Clipping). While some of these topics are more concentrated in particular regions, our goal is to connect these broad themes in history to local examples that students can recognize. Here’s a look at the four initial primary source sets:
Racial Integration in K-12 Schools
Time period: 1950s-1980s
While you may be familiar with some of the national stories around school integration after Brown v. Board of Education, this teaching set samples North Carolina yearbooks, photographs, newspapers, and oral histories to ground this topic in familiar places. It draws primarily on our collections from historically Black high schools, many of which were closed during this period (though their alumni associations remain strong!). This collection also implements local materials from the Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Supreme Court case over busing.
Time period: 20th century
This set was inspired by the popular NCPedia page, “Analyzing Political Cartoons,” which explains some of the strategies for understanding cartoons in their historical context. Here, we’ve selected examples from over a century of newspapers that include topics such as the 1898 Wilmington Coup, women’s suffrage, economics, and a few contemporary political issues. Each example comes with a bit of historical context and some background on the newspaper itself.
Textile Workers & Labor Movements
Time period: 1920s-30s and 1970s
North Carolina’s history of labor is inextricably tied to the legacy of the textile industry. This set uses photographs, memorabilia, speeches, and newspaper clippings of two famous examples—the Loray Mill strike of 1929 and the activism of Crystal Lee Sutton—to weave together an understanding of North Carolina’s economy and culture through one of its major industries of the 20th century.
Time period: 20th century
It would be impossible to fully understand the history of North Carolina in the 20th century without talking about the tobacco industry. This set uses photographs, newspapers, videos, and oral histories to explore the lives of tobacco farmers and factory workers as well as the major families who controlled the vast tobacco wealth. Additionally, it includes examples of how the industry affected culture, including a new generation of advertising that attempted to combat public health concerns.
You can explore these four teaching sets for yourself here on our teaching and learning resource page. You can also go directly to our item analysis worksheets here, which include levels for both beginning and advanced learners. If you’d like to give us feedback on these teaching resources, you can contact us here.
Thanks to our partner, Wayne County Public Library, a batch containing 18th and 19th century land grants for some of the earliest settlers of Wayne County; photographs of individuals protesting segregation; scrapbooks of materials detailing the history of Goldsboro City Schools; Goldsboro newspapers; family photographs; history of The Cultural Movement African Dance Company; and much more are now available to view on our website.
A portion of the materials in this batch were digitized by staff during a community scan day at the Wayne County Public Library. Using materials brought in by community members during the event, the Wayne County Public Library Community Collections exhibit has been added to DigitalNC.
Among the materials brought to Wayne County Public Library’s community scan day was a collection of family photographs spanning from circa 1880s to circa 1950s. Snippets of boating adventures, pets, children playing, architecture, and more can be found throughout the record. A small selection of these fascinating photographs can be viewed below.
To explore the Wayne County Public Library Community Collections, please visit the exhibit page.
To view more materials from Wayne County Public Library, please visit their contributor page here.
To learn more about the Wayne County Public Library, please visit their website linked here.
To view more photographs, please view our Images of North Carolina collection linked here.
From the 1958 Goldsboro Business and Professional Women’s Club Scrapbook
Thanks to our partner, Wayne County Public Library, we’ve got several additional scrapbooks from the Wayne County Business and Professional Women’s Club. The scrapbooks range from 1948 to 1974-75 and document many of the club’s leaders, events, and impacts in the area.
From the 1950 Goldsboro Business and Professional Women’s Club Scrapbook
The Business and Professional Women’s Clubs of North Carolina (BPW/NC) began in 1919 with representatives from Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Salisbury, and Winston-Salem. It grew to encompass several more chapters, including one in Goldsboro. The clubs advocated for women’s interests in the state, like money for a women’s dormitory at UNC-CH and the ratification of the 19th Amendment, and they protested against discrimination, such as that against unaccompanied women in hotels. Today, the BPW/NC still works to “promote the general advancement of working women in North Carolina.”
In addition to photographs, the scrapbooks hold a selection of newspaper clippings, financial records, organizational literature, event programs, and ephemera. You can see the full batch of scrapbooks and club minutes here. To see more materials from the Wayne County Public Library, visit their partner page or their website.
The front page of the April 25, 1940 of the Goldsboro Herald, which shows articles about local Black schools, the Goldbugs, and a prelude to war.
Thanks to the Wayne County Public Library, we’re sharing issues of the Goldsboro Herald from 1936-1940 on DigitalNC. Digitization of these issues was funded by the North Caroliniana Society.
This ad is one of many targeting Wayne County residents during the heyday of rural electrification in North Carolina. It’s from the January 12, 1939 issue of the Goldsboro Herald.
The Goldsboro Herald is full of local information with little syndicated content. You’ll see stories related to the tobacco market, crime, and personal news items like births, visits, and deaths. Special columns cover Baker, Eureka, Pikeville, and Patetown – all in Wayne County. Also prominent is sports news, with coverage of the Goldsboro “Goldbugs” baseball team frequently right on the front page. As the paper progresses into 1940 the front page increasingly has news related to world events leading up to the second World War.
It’s unclear how long the Herald ran – if you have more information on this let us know in the comments. You can view more items from Wayne County Public Library on their contributor page, including links to a number of other Goldsboro newspapers.
The Air-O-Mech is a newspaper published at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base (known at the time as Seymour Johnson Field) during World War II. It is now on DigitalNC thanks to our partner Wayne County Public Library. The paper’s first issue was published on January 8, 1943 and asked readers to submit a name for the paper and have a chance to win $5 if their name was selected. The initial paper also quotes Brigadier General Walter J. Reed’s support of the paper, with him stating “This field newspaper widens the scope of our news service. It will let you know about changes in Army regulations which concern you. It will describe the services available to you and your dependents through the Red Cross, the Army Emergency Relief and other agencies. It will tell you about your fellow soldiers, and pass on to you information on what is happening on the field.”
The headlines in the paper display both the humor of those stationed at Seymour Johnson as well as the seriousness of serving during the war, alternating between things such as “Hold Your Hats, Gang, All-Girl Revue is Here!” and “GI Wash Day Blues to End” (on a story about a new laundry facility opening) to “In our time of trial give us strength.” On the whole though, the paper definitely leans towards a light-hearted take on life on the base, and even includes in one issue a handy guide on how to get married in Wayne County where the base is located and the excitement over a new soda fountain being installed in the service cafeteria
The issues now on DigitalNC cover January 1943 to January 1944 and joins a number of other military newspapers on our site.
To learn more about our partner Wayne County Public Library, visit their partner page here and their website here.
Thanks to our partner, the Wayne County Public Library, we have added several issues of The Goldsboro News from the years 1927-1929 to our website. The paper included a mix of local, national, and international news stories from major world events to local festivities and events.
The November 6, 1928 edition of the newspaper (see below) largely reports on Election Day and the presidential race between Republican Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and Democratic Governor Al Smith of New York. Ironically, the paper reports that specialists predicted that Smith would be the “easy winner” of the election. However, Hoover was elected that day to his only term in office, which would be marred by the stock market crash of 1929, less than one year later.
The cover page of the November 6, 1928 issue of The Goldsboro News.
The February 15, 1929 issue of the paper (see below) features the breaking of the news of several famous historical events. The headline for this issue centered around the infamous “St. Valentine’s Day” Massacre of seven gang members in Chicago that had occurred the day before publication. The issue also reported a happier historical event, the engagement of famed pilot Charles Lindbergh to his future wife, Anne Morrow, who would soon change her name to Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Just over one year later, Morrow would give birth to the couple’s first child, Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., who was infamously kidnapped and killed by his abductors in 1932.
The cover page of the February 15, 1929 issue of The Goldsboro News.
For more information about the Wayne County Public Library, please visit their website.
Back in August, we announced our annual call for microfilmed newspaper digitization. We asked institutions throughout North Carolina to nominate papers they’d like to see added to DigitalNC. As it is every year, it was an incredibly tough choice – we are typically able to choose between 40-60 reels out of over a thousand nominated. This year we’ve chosen the following titles and years.
| Title | Years | Nominating Institution |
|---|---|---|
| Black Mountain News | 1945-1948 | Swannanoa Valley Museum |
| Carolinian (Raleigh) | 1959-1972 | Olivia Raney Local History Library |
| Dunn Daily Record | 1950-1962 | Dunn History Musem |
| Eastern Carolina News | 1898 | Trenton Public Library / Neuse Regional Library |
| Goldsboro News | 1923-1927 | Wayne County Public Library |
| Tryon Daily Bulletin | 1928-1942 | Polk County Public Libraries |
| Tyrrell County Herald/Progress/Times | 1928; 1944-1945 | Tyrrell County Library |
| Tyrrell Tribune | 1939-1941 | Tyrrell County Library |
| Zebulon Record | 1925-1956 | Little River Historical Society |
For our selection criteria, we prioritize newspapers that document underrepresented communities, new titles, papers that come from a county that currently has little representation on DigitalNC, and papers nominated by new partners. After selection, we ask the partners to secure permission for digitization and, if that’s successful, they make it into the final list above.
We hope to have these titles coming online in the first half of 2020. If your title didn’t make it this year don’t despair! We welcome repeat submissions, and plan on sending out another call in Fall 2020.
The Goldsboro News, November 5, 1922
Nearly 1400 issues of The Goldsboro News have recently been digitized and added to DigitalNC. This daily paper, with issues from 1922 to 1927, provides a robust account of Goldsboro and Wayne County. This paper is made available thanks to a nomination from our partner Wayne County Public Library.
This daily paper shared all manner of news with its readers. The clippings below are a sample of its headlines:
The Goldsboro News, July 13, 1922
The Goldsboro News, September 28, 1923
To learn more about The Goldsboro News, click here, and to view all 1400+ issues online, click here.
*Post edited 9/2019 to reflect The Goldsboro News as separate from the News-Argus.
Goldsboro News-Argus, April 26, 1957
DigitalNC is pleased to announce the addition of a special issue of the newspaper the Goldsboro News-Argus. Thanks to our partner at the Wayne County Public Library, we are glad to provide access to an issue of the paper from April 26, 1957, which honors Lieutenant Seymour Johnson, U.S. Navy.
Lt. Seymour Johnson portrait
A native of Goldsboro, Lt. Johnson died in a plane crash near Norbeck, Maryland, on March 5, 1941. Johnson was “one of the first young men from Goldsboro to adopt aviation in the armed forces as a career.” He had been a test pilot for five years and his “friends in Goldsboro often heard reports that he safely brought to port airplanes which had developed mechanical trouble and it seemed all but impossible to land them.” The Air Force base in Goldsboro was named for Lt. Johnson in 1942.
The remainder of the issue provides news about Goldsboro and the Air Force base, frequently emphasizing how glad the town is to welcome those associated with the base.
To view this issue of the Goldsboro News-Argus, click here. To learn more about the Wayne County Public Library, visit their partner page here or their website here.
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.