The North Carolina Digital Collections has a wide variety of materials from the State Library. Recent and historic information, photographs and annual reports, documents for kids and adults. So you might be surprised to learn that the item accessed most often – consistently quite more than the next most popular item – is the North Carolina Newspaper Index. From the preface, you can learn that the Index “was first created to assist patrons in locating North Carolina newspapers for research and/or genealogical purposes. The index was part of the North Carolina Newspaper Project website and provided users with relevant information about hundreds of Tar Heel newspapers such as the newspaper’s current and previous names, the date range of the newspaper, and the newspaper’s OCLC number.” The index was last updated in 2002, but it’s still a big fan favorite.
We know that our patrons love newspapers, and that they can sometimes be hard to find, so we’re constantly on the lookout for ways to help. Recently, we digitized the Union List of North Carolina Newspapers (1790-1900). Although this was published in 1962 and the information about where the newspapers can be found might be out of date, it might still be helpful for those tenacious researchers trying to locate out-of-the-way local papers.
Don’t forget, that we’ve also got a talented reference staff who would be more than happy to help you locate that elusive issue.
