Our Newspaper Collection is growing!

For anyone that’s been perusing our archival collection recently, you’ll know that we are constantly adding material. In the last month, the biggest concentration has been in the Newspaper Collection where we now have 224 (and counting!) materials specifically newspaper articles and clippings ranging in date from the 1880s to the 1980s from newspapers located throughout the state.

The Method

The articles and clippings were found mostly through broad searches of databases including DigitalNC and Ancestry.com For the most part, our colleague Margie Merod does a fantastic (and very methodical) job identifying lists of keywords, mostly of common surnames, geographic locations, and business names, and generating searches to find instances of these keywords in state-wide newspapers. These searches are time-consuming and require great attention to detail to ensure that the searches yielded relevant material.

he Reason

The Project relies heavily on community donations of materials and artifacts that illustrate and depict the Lebanese experience unique to North Carolina. Some contextual information, however, often is not saved in family albums. And that’s where the newspapers come in. These articles and clippings provide insight into the cities and towns in North Carolina where Lebanese settled. It offers descriptions of events and activities in town such as council meetings, voting days, weddings, funerals, first days of school, etc.  All of this context allows us to more accurately place the Lebanese in the state’s history.

Examples

The Newspaper Collection contains a range of articles and clippings. Some prominently feature Lebanese or Syrian families or individuals, while others mention them peripherally. Still, some feature advertisements of Lebanese or Syrian owned businesses, like this one for Koury’s Store posted on June 27, 1956 in The Daily Times News of Burlington, NC:

Here’s another one that mentions a North Carolinian impersonating a Syrian peddler at an engagement celebration from the Gastonia Daily Gazette on November 10, 1927:

Of course, there are plenty of wedding announcements and baby announcements. This one, from The Daily Times News of Burlington, NC from August 22, 1973 may be the best of the bunch:

Like we all our collections, you can search the Newspaper Collection by keywords including surname, geographic location, periodical name, date or subject. If you are looking for something in particular, send us an email. We can help!