North Carolina Newspapers: Getting Started

Having an understanding or perspective of the political, social, economic, governmental, and geographic conditions of a particular era or surrounding a particular event helps us to understand what types of evidence or records were created. For newspapers, historical context helps us be aware of the factors that influenced where and when newspapers were created, the types of information we might be able to find for a particular moment in time, and where we might be likely to find a particular paper today. 

And the more you know, the more you can uncover! Here is a brief history of North Carolina's newspapers.

Colonial Papers

In the early part of the 18th century, papers were required to be published by government authority and with a license. In fact, if you look at these early broadsides (as we call them today), you’ll see the quote “Published with Authority” often below the title. During this era, newspaper publishers were printers first and they were found in the largest cities. They were licensed by authority to print official government documents and papers, among other items for the public, like books, pamphlets and so forth. The business of creating “news” was secondary to the business of printing. Paper was also a valuable commodity and most people didn’t have access to it. 

The broadsides were small in size and only one to two pages. They included news from England, cribbed from the British papers, along with portions of religious or literary texts to edify their readers. By the 1750s, papers had begun to operate independently from British government authority and the numbers had increased significantly. The news had become much more local and political, and political debates raged in the newspapers. By this time papers had grown to include a range of advertisements, social news, and opinion.

North Carolina – along with a few other colonies – were late to getting printers and their first papers. This delay was influenced by geography, settlement, and politics. Founded in 1663, the Carolina colony had few good natural harbors, compared to the busy ports of Virginia to the north and Charleston to the south, and a dangerous coastline. The first settlers moved south from the Tidewater area of Virginia, across the formidable Dismal Swamp and into the upper northeastern portion of what is now North Carolina.

The first printing press made its way to North Carolina in 1746. It arrived at New Bern, just a few years after the town was established as the capital. It was brought by James Davis, who came from Virginia at the invitation of the General Assembly to set up shop as the colony’s first printer and printer to the Assembly. In August of 1751, Davis published the colony’s first broadside, the North Carolina Gazette. The paper was small, in the standard of the day, originally one page and printed as a monthly. The Gazette had four or so incarnations and slight name changes through 1798. And by 1776, there were at least three papers in the colony, although all had shut down by the end of the American Revolution. The state had no paper from 1778 to 1783, but publishing picked up again in earnest following the war. 

Papers move into the "backcountry"

Wilmington, North Carolina's southernmost city at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, established the North Carolina Gazette in 1764; next came Hillsborough’s first paper, the Gazette in 1765, the backcountry’s first paper. The Cape Fear Mercury was published at Edenton in 1769. Next came Fayetteville, up the Cape Fear and northwest of Wilmington, with the Gazette in 1789. Halifax, by Virginia published the Halifax Journal in 1792. And finally Salisbury, farthest west in 1797 with the North Carolina Mercury and Salisbury Advertiser. 

Growth of newspapers into the interior of the state came as settlers began to push west. So, when you think about finding localized newspapers and content, think about the history of settlement and development and what may have been likely to exist at a given time. The images on the left of this slide show the mastheads of a few editions of the earliest papers to give you an idea what papers of the day looked like.

Raleigh’s newspaper history began around 1797 to 1799 with the publication of three papers, the Raleigh Register and North Carolina Weekly Advertiser, the Weekly News and the Raleigh Minerva. 

19th century papers and politics

Into the 19th century, the state saw rapid development in papers from both small towns and its smaller cities, as the population continued to grow and expand throughout the state. The 19th century also saw a range of politically affiliated papers, including the major papers of the Republican and Whig parties and later the Democratic party. Politically affiliated papers would figure prominently in the political wars of the 19th century. Another interesting development came with papers geared toward the modern family, with Charlotte’s Western Democrat. Papers began to feature content geared toward women and domestic life. This issue of the paper from 1870 also included election returns for Mecklenburg County.

Specialized Presses

Development of the newspaper landscape included a range of specialized presses for agriculture, industry and labor, as well as infrastructure advocacy associations such as those related to good roads. The images on this slide show examples of labor and industrial press newspapers – Raleigh’s Farmer and Mechanic from 1882 and Charlotte’s Miners’ and Farmers’ Journal in September of 1820.

Campus Papers

Growth of population, municipalities and industry spurred the state’s educational system. And with the growth of secondary education, normal schools, and colleges and universities, came school and campus newspapers. Numerous examples of these papers from the latter quarter of the 19th century to the present day have been preserved. 

American Indian Community Papers

A number of papers have also been published from the state’s American Indian communities, including: The Cherokee One Feather, the paper of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina, and founded in 1966. The Carolina Indian Voice, published in Pembroke by the Lumbee Tribe was founded in 1973 by Bruce Barton. The One Feather is still in publication today, and the paper also has a crucial web publication platform.

African American Newspapers

Nearly 100 African American community newspapers that have been published in the state, beginning in the 1860s. The first, published just after the Civil War in 1865 was the Journal of Freedom, published in Raleigh. It’s not clear how many issues this paper saw, only a handful appear to have survived. The National Savings Bank, carrying financial news and news of the Freedman’s Savings Banks, was published in 1868.  Other reconstruction and post-reconstruction era 19th century newspapers included, Fayetteville’s The Educator, Raleigh’s African Expositor, New Bern’s The People’s Advocate, Wilmington’s Africo-American Presbyterian, and Alex and Frank Manly’s Wilmington Record published in the 1890s until 1898. 

Numerous papers were published beginning in the 20th century, including The Carolina Times from Durham and founded in 1921 by Charles Arrant as the The Standard Advertiser and later run by Louis Austin. Louis Austin used the paper to target discrimmination and fight for civil rights. At one point the Times served as the headquarters of the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs, later the Durahm Committee on the Affairs of Black People. Charlotte’s The Post, founded in 1878 is still in publication as well. This slide shows images of the front page of a few of these historical publications, along with a snapshot of the masthead of Black Ink, the black student newspaper at UNC-Chapel Hill from November 1969.