The United States will be celebrating its 250^th anniversary this July, but our country is not the only one celebrating a milestone year in 2026. The Taylorsville Times, only 100 years younger, will be celebrating its 150^th anniversary! While we celebrate, we can look back at how the Taylorsville Times celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2011.

 First published on January 7, 1886, the Taylorsville Times was originally named The Alexander County Journal. For 125 years, the paper went on to share and preserve the stories of its community. The name of the paper would change throughout the years from The Taylorsville Index, The Weekly Visitor, The Mountain Scout, before eventually becoming Taylorsville Times; however, its purpose has always remained the same. The 125th Anniversary Newspaper Edition, published on December 14, 2011, covers the history of the paper, previous titles of the paper, and specific issues they published with historical significance to national and local history.

You can check out issues of the Taylorsville Times (Taylorsville, N.C.) and its previous titles on DigitalNC from 1927 to 2012.

You can learn more about our partner, Alexander County Library, here.

To view more materials and newspaper issues provided by Alexander County Library, you can visit their contributor page here.

To view other newspapers published in North Carolina, you can visit our Newspaper Collection here.

The latest batch of materials from Raleigh Fire Museum includes various images of Raleigh FD fire trucks and EMS vehicles used throughout different decades. The photographers that took the photos in this latest collection include Joel Woods, Bob Downes, and Jeff Harkey, who photographed the majority of the photos. Jeff Harkey photographed many of Raleigh Fire’s vehicles as he is a founding member of the RFD Photo Unit and also a founder member of Raleigh Fire Museum. These photographs were all taken between 1976 and 1991. The oldest firetruck photographed in this batch is a 1950 Mack Reserve Engine.

Shelton T. Eudy, a Captain from Raleigh Fire Department, wrote an article for the magazine, Fire Chief Magazine, which was published in December 1985. Captain Eudy wrote about Raleigh Fire’s hazardous materials response team and its founding. Captain Eudy conceptualized Raleigh Fire’s hazardous materials response team and after seeing the development through its infancy, the response team had become the example for current and any future hazmat teams within North Carolina.

In the 35mm slides, Raleigh Fire personnel can be seen doing a variety of activities on the job. Some of these activities including training courses, presentations to children at the local mall, and putting out a three-alarm fire.

Additionally, within the batch are Raleigh Fire personnel’s identification cards. The Raleigh FD ID cards span decades, documenting generations of firefighters from the 1960s into the 2000s. One of the ID cards belongs to Ervin L. Stephens. Erwin L. Stephens, also called Louis, was one of the first African American firefighters hired by Raleigh FD. Stephens started on May 1st, 1963, less than 90 days after Larry Gene Williams, Raleigh FD’s first Black firefighter, was hired. Stephens served for 28 years at Raleigh FD, retiring on May 1st, 1991, with the rank of Lieutenant.

To view more of this batch, click here.

View more materials from the Raleigh Fire Museum on DigitalNC, linked here.

To learn more about Raleigh Fire Museum, visit their website linked here.

Most of the issues published from September 2, 1937, to August 8, 1940, feature a political cartoon by Nate Collier on their front page. These cartoons often touched on topics relating to taxes, debt, industry, and national politics. The six political cartoons below are just a few of the cartoons published in these issues and more can be seen by searching images of The Clayton News.

You can view more issues of The Clayton News and look at more political cartoons here.

You can learn more about our partner, the Hocutt-Ellington Memorial Library, here.

To view more newspaper issues provided by the Hocutt-Ellington Memorial Library, you can visit their contributor page here.

To view other newspapers published in North Carolina, you can visit our Newspaper Collection here.

The Brunswick County Bicentennial Committee organized a fantastic summer-long celebration for the American Revolution Bicentennial in 1976, with events throughout 1975 and early 1976 designed to teach community members about the history being celebrated. The Bicentennial observed the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence at the Second Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776.

This summer, communities across the country will celebrate the Semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration on Independence! Brunswick County has a full slate of events planned, with more celebrations across the Brunswick Islands and all of North Carolina on the way!

In 1975 and 1976, the Brunswick County Bicentennial Committee held battlefield and colonial life reenactments to show community members how North Carolinians cooked, dressed, and fought during the Revolutionary era. Colonial reenactors like the Wilmington Minutemen, the Cape Fear Minutemen, and the Brunswick County Fife and Bugle Corps made camps, marched in parades, and held weapons demonstrations to bring Revolutionary history to life. Students across Brunswick County practiced colonial era crafts like soap and candle making.

On May 10th, 1975, a reenactment of the announcement of the Battle of Lexington, in which Susan Greene played the messenger who brought the news to Richard Quince, played by Danny Clemmons, kicked off the Bicentennial Celebration. Later that day, the Bicentennial Art Show at the Brunswick Town Visitor Center in Winnabow, North Carolina, opened with 35 works of art depicting scenes from life in Brunswick County.

The Committee collected oral histories from community members and compiled histories of churches across Brunswick County. In June 1975, an exhibit dedicated to Revolutionary War maritime history opened in Southport, North Carolina. The exhibit later toured other Bicentennial celebrations through the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.

Throughout 1975 and 1976, the Committee facilitated multiple contests for community members to engage with themes of the Bicentennial and events from the Celebration, including to essay contests, a photography contest, and a painting contest. The Committee also hosted a Miss Bicentennial pageant and a student debate competition. Winners received awards, monetary prizes, inclusion in exhibitions, or special recognition during Celebration events and press.

On March 27th and 28th, 1976, the U.S. Armed Forces Bicentennial Caravan visited Southport, North Carolina. The Caravan consisted of four mobile units representing the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force that traveled across the United States touring the exhibit “The History of the American Armed Forces and Their Contributions to the Nation” in 1975 and 1976.

In early May 1976, the Texas-Bar-Six Lone Star Wagon Train passed through Brunswick County on its way to converge with the Bicentennial Wagon Train Pilgrimage. Hundreds of wagoneers from across the country traveled in five sections, beginning their journey at different times and following different historic wagon trails to meet in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on July 4th, 1976.

On Independence Day weekend in 1976, the Bicentennial celebrations culminated with festivities, fireworks, and a parade that drew celebrants from across Brunswick County. The Committee continued to honor the Bicentennial beyond July 4th, 1976, concluding with placing a historical marker for the Boundary House in Calabash, North Carolina—where Isaac Marion (played by Sammy Morgan in the reenactment) received the news of the Battle of Lexington from Brunswick and and passed it further through the colonies—and publishing a book about the history of Brunswick County, incorporating research conducted during the Celebration, with a grant from the American Revolutionary Bicentennial Administration

From DigitalNC, enjoy Semiquincentennial celebrations in your community this summer!

Interested in more North Carolina Bicentennial celebrations? Explore these materials from our contributors!

This is our first contribution from Brunswick Community College—visit their new contributor page! To explore materials from the community colleges of North Carolina on DigitalNC, visit our Community College Collection digital exhibit!

This newest batch includes Miller’s certificates of completion for lecture and drills courses at the North Carolina State Fireman’s Association Fire College and Drill School, documents reflecting Miller’s service to the Greensboro Fire Department, photographs from Miller’s tenure at Southside Hose Company No. 4, and newspaper, journal, and magazine articles and other ephemera capturing the lives and contributions of Miller and his contemporaries.

Sam Miller graduated from Fire College and Drill School in 1936. His 23-year fire fighting career overlapped with other foundational members of the Greensboro Fire Department like Chief Frank D. Shaw and Assistant Chief Paul B. Shaw. Frank Shaw was the first paid chief of the Greensboro Fire Department, a role he began in 1926 and held until his death in 1946. His older brother Paul Shaw was the first paid assistant chief of the Greensboro Fire Department, a role he began in 1929. Paul Shaw retired in 1950.

According to a 1950 article from the magazine of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), Miller became the first fire fighter in the history of the Greensboro Fire Department to be retired from active service on September 1st, 1949. Despite not joining during his career, members of Greensboro’s IAFF Local No. 947 voted to recognize Miller with lifetime membership. Sam Miller passed away on February 19th, 1950, and was buried with full honors by the Greensboro Fire Department.

Interested in more stories from the Greensboro Firefighters History Book Committee? Check out their contributors page.

To learn more about the Greensboro Firefighters History Book Committee, please visit their website.

Bruce Barton founded The Carolina Indian Voice (Pembroke, N.C) in 1973 to serve members of Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina living on their traditional territory in Robeson County. Circulating until 2005, The Carolina Indian Voice was a critical source of news and editorial representation for the Lumbee Tribe and other indigenous people living across what is now North Carolina and the United States. With the addition of these new volumes from 1973 and 1974, DigitalNC now has editions spanning the entire run of The Carolina Indian Voice!

The Pembroke Progress (Pembroke, N.C.) was established in 1947 and circulated through at least 1950. According to a 1948 city directory for Lumberton, North Carolina, it is possible that The Pembroke Progress was owned by Dougald Coxe, who also owned The Lumberton Voice, which was founded in 1935 and ran until the late 1940s. These editions from 1948 to 1950 are the first editions of The Pembroke Progress available on DigitalNC!

“The Indianhead” is the yearbook of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP). The first volume was published in 1946 and captured the 1945-46 academic year at Pembroke State College, now UNCP. The 2025 yearbook is the 80th volume of “The Indianhead”—and DigitalNC has every volume available on our website!

Learn more about Bruce Barton in this thoughtful memorial in The Robesonian (Lumberton, N.C.), and about The Carolina Indian Voice in this DigitalNC blog post!

To explore more historical materials, including more yearbooks and newspapers, from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, visit their contributor’s page.

The 1971 and 1974 editions of The Bruin give further glimpses and insight into student life, activities, current events at that time, and more. In the 1971 edition of The Bruin, the Senior class of ’71 gave memoriam to one of their fellow classmates, Seth Thomas, who passed away. The Senior class wrote a poem that was showcased within the yearbook called, “The Empty Seat”. Other pages within both yearbooks show how cohesive and supportive the students and faculty were as a collective unit.

More information about our partner New Bern-Craven County Public Library can be found here.

More information about our partner Craven Pamlico Regional Library can be found here.

To view more yearbooks across North Carolina, visit our North Carolina Yearbook Collection.

The Pine Knoll Shores Garden Club has been a pivotal organization in its community and has even helped it achieve and maintain the honor of being a Tree City USA. The Garden Club has been planning annual Arbor Day celebrations since 1982, and every year since 2000, the Arbor Day Foundation has given Pine Knoll Shores the Tree City USA distinction. The community celebrated its 25^th anniversary of this honor in 2025, and The Shoreline promoted its celebration in advance by dedicating the March history column to Arbor Day.

Interested in learning about how Pine Knoll Shores celebrated Arbor Day in 2025? You can check out the issues from March, April, and May!

You can learn more about our partner, the History Committee of Pine Knoll Shores, here.

To view more newspaper issues provided by the History Committee of Pine Knoll Shores, you can visit their contributor page here.

To view other newspapers published in North Carolina, you can visit our Newspaper Collection here.

Thanks to our partners at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, we are excited to announce the addition of four new yearbooks from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district. These yearbooks join a collection of over 200 yearbooks from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district that is featured in DigitalNC’s exhibit Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Yearbooks. This robust exhibit is made possible through collaboration with our partners at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, whose Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room collects materials – such as local high school yearbooks – related to Charlotte-Mecklenburg County.

The four yearbooks hail from Sharon High School (Charlotte, N.C.) and East Mecklenburg High School (Charlotte, N.C.). Three volumes of Sharon High School’s The Floodlight cover the years 1947 through 1949. The fourth yearbook is the 1955 volume of East Mecklenburg High School’s East Wind.

All available yearbooks from high schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district can be browsed by school in the exhibit Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Yearbooks, linked here.

More information about our partner, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, can be found on their website, linked here.

More materials, including programs, catalogs, and eight newspaper titles, can be found on Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s contributor page, linked here.

The Tarboro High School yearbooks span from 1966-1976, which highlights sporting events, club activities, classroom lessons, and more. The yearbooks centralize much of student life and faculty as well. One thing to note is that the 10-year timespan of the yearbooks coincides with the active desegregation efforts started within North Carolina schools, which Tarboro High school is part of. The 1966 Tar-Bo-Rah is the first yearbook which African American students are included and pictured. When looking at the 1966 yearbook, you can see glimpses of the few Black students within the school through the traditional “yearbook school pictures”. Although there were no Black students pictured participating or being involved in school activities, with the exception of the sports team. Almost exclusively, African Americans within the school yearbook were either maintenance/janitorial staff or lunch staff.

But as the years continue, more Black students became enrolled at Tarboro and started having more of a prominent presence in student life and activities. Furthermore, through the steady influx of Black students, came the hiring of multiple Black faculty members.

The Sports of Tarboro High School Scrapbook [1937-1938] primary features newspaper clippings, covering the boys’ football team and both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams coached by William “Bill” Gillette. News about the boys’ and girls’ sports teams were often written in conjunction with one another. Coverage frequently placed the boys’ and girls’ teams’ side-by-side, reporting game results, player highlights, and seasonal records together. For the 1937-38 season, the girls’ basketball team had 11 wins and 15 losses. Also, for the same season, the men’s basketball team had 11 wins and 17 losses.

The sports scrapbook also contains several pictures of Head Coach Bill Gillette and other members of the boy’s football team. Included within each photo is the name of the individual and what role they serve on the team, whether as Coach, Manager, or playing position. There are about 15 individual photos and one group photo. There are no photos of the either the boys’ or girls’ basketball teams within the scrapbook, which would have been very interesting to see.

Milton S. Brown moved to Tarboro in 1912 and built a Coca-Cola bottling plant in the area that quickly became central to the town’s economy. Brown went on to serve as the President of the Tarboro Chamber of Commerce while overseeing the Tarboro Coca-Cola Bottling Company, solidifying his stance and prominence within the community. Both of Brown’s scrapbooks, Tarboro Scrapbook and Tarboro Scrapbook [1946-1947], span between 1932 to 1948, and document the community’s World War II homefront activity through newspaper clippings, photographs, correspondence, and personal reflections. Brown was heavily involved in the facilitation of community participation through Victory Gardens. Popularized during both World Wars, Victory Gardens were used as a tool for direct citizen participation in the war efforts by growing fruits and vegetables from their own gardens. Victory Gardens helped reduce the stress on wartime rations and the food for overseas supplies. Brown financially supported local garden initiatives by donating money for prize contests. But notably, he funded a separate Negro Victory Garden contest, organized for Black residents of Tarboro.

This effort reflects the racial boundaries imposed under Jim Crow segregation. In many North Carolina communities, African American participation in wartime civic contests was underfunded or completely excluded. In a letter included in the scrapbook, F.D. Wharton, Negro County Agent for the N.C. State Dept of Agriculture and Home Economics, thanks Brown and other city commissioners for providing funds needed to allow Black gardeners to compete for cash prizes. Wharton wrote that the contest had grown so popular that he hoped $50 (approximately $920 today) could be divided into smaller awards to increase the number of participating families. Wharton closes his letter by writing, “the Negro citizens of Tarboro highly appreciate all that you have done and are doing for them and that they will always remain very, very grateful to you for the same”.

Brown was also deeply involved in wartime salvage drives through his membership on the Edgecombe County Salvage Committee. Materials like metal and rubber were needed overseas for the war efforts. Brown mobilized his Coca-Cola employees, Black and white, as they used their company trucks and go house to house, collecting any and all scrap metal and rubber. Photographs taken by Brown document this process, showing Black and white workers laboring side-by-side in a highly visible way.

In the context of Jim Crow segregation, this public collaboration across racial lines was highly unusual. While wartime necessity did not erase racial inequality, it did create moments where rigid social barriers were temporarily crossed in the name of national mobilization.

Examples from both scrapbooks reveal how community cooperation during WWII intersected with and at times disrupted the racial divides of the Jim Crow South. Brown’s dual involvement in segregated Victory Garden programs and racially integrated salvage efforts highlights the contradictions of the era: moments of shared labor and civic unity existed alongside deeply entrenched systems of exclusion.

More information about our partner, Edgecombe County Memorial Library, can be found on their website, linked here.

More materials, including newspapers, yearbooks, scrapbooks, photographs, and more can be found on the Edgecombe County Memorial Library’s contributor page linked here.