Introduction
What is Now Available
What is Not Available
How to Start
About the NC State Archives Newspaper Microfilming Project
Interlibrary Loan
Note to Librarians
Microfilm Available: at the State Library of North Carolina | at the North Carolina State Archives | for purchase
North Carolina Newspapers brochure (PDF file)

Old newspapers are a great resource for students, historians, teachers, genealogists, and anyone interested in the history of their town, county, or state.

Introduction

Over 2,000 newspapers have been published in North Carolina since the North Carolina Gazette first appeared in New Bern in 1751. From January 1991 through March 1999, the North Carolina Division of Archives and History and the State Library of North Carolina coordinated the North Carolina Newspaper Project (NCNP), an extensive program to locate, catalog, and microfilm existing North Carolina newspapers. Through the efforts of project staff, over 3,000,000 newspaper pages have been microfilmed. NCNP, a part of the United States Newspaper Program, was partially funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and coordinated by the Library of Congress. The NCNP funding ended in 1999 and the project is no longer active. Any newspapers not microfilmed and cataloged during that time are not included in our listings. Most newspapers which began publication after 1970 will not be listed either.

What is Now Available

• Newspapers have been identified for all of North Carolina's 100 counties.
• Selected titles from each county have been microfilmed by the State Archives. Not all newspaper titles have been filmed, due to limited funding. Only those newspapers cataloged and/or microfilmed at the time of the NCNP are listed here. Newspaper titles are no longer being added to our list.
• Some North Carolina newspapers have been microfilmed by commercial companies.

What is Not Available

• Newspapers in original paper form
• Topical indexes of the newspapers microfilmed
• Searching by personal names or subjects

How to Start

The best place to begin your research is at your local library. The librarian can assist you with your search, identify where newspapers are located, and provide information about resources in your area; e.g., whether or not a local history or genealogical group has indexed the county's paper.

Selected information is also available on the Internet:

• Guide to Newspapers on Microfilm in the North Carolina State Archives (PDF of titles of newspapers microfilmed by the State Archives) -- About the project
• North Carolina Newspapers Index (opens in new window, last updated 2002)
• Information about newspaper project work in other states

Your local library can help you identify libraries in the state that have microfilm copies of newspaper titles filmed by the State Archives or by commercial companies.

About the NC State Archives Newspaper Microfilming Project

In 1959, the North Carolina Division of Archives and History (then the State Department of Archives and History) began a program of microfilming North Carolina Newspapers. Newspapers filmed by the department have been described in several editions of Guide to North Carolina Newspapers on Microfilm: Titles Available from the Division of Archives and History. This list updates the 1984 edition of that Guide and includes all titles filmed since 1991 under the auspices of the North Carolina Newspaper Project, a project funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

It should be noted that several commercial firms and other institutions also have filmed North Carolina newspapers. The absence of a title from the guide does not preclude its having been filmed. A listing of others sources for newspapers may be found in Newspapers in Microform published by the Library of Congress.

The arrangement of this guide is the same as that of the published 1984 edition. Titles are alphabetized by their first words, excluding articles. This guide lists the most common title of each newspaper, together with a reasonable number of title variations for cross-reference. Brackets[] indicate substantial gaps in the issues. Researchers should also note that titles designated "partial reel" usually consists of only a few frames filling a small portion of a reel.

Detailed information about the cost and content of these microfilm editions can be obtained from the Archives and Records Section, Division of Archives and History, 4614 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27699-4614.

Interlibrary Loan

Many newspaper titles on microfilm are available through interlibrary loan (ILL), a cooperative program for lending materials among libraries. The State Library of North Carolina lends its microfilm through ILL, but all ILL requests must come through a library. Microfilm and other library materials are never mailed to the patron's home.

Interlibrary Loan Procedures for Borrowing Microfilm

• Contact your local library
• The interlibrary loan librarian or reference librarian should be able to help you
• Microfilm will be loaned only through libraries

Note to Librarians

When searching OCLC for newspaper titles, remember to look at both the paper and microform records. Microfilm holdings may be attached to either the paper record or to the microform record, depending upon the practice of the inputting library.

Also, don't forget to check the Name-Address Directory (NAD) to verify ordering information.

The OCLC symbol for the State Archives is sa4. The OCLC symbol for the State Library is NCS.

Microfilm Availability

The Government & Heritage Library of the State Library of North Carolina has newspaper microfilm that may be viewed in the Information Center or borrowed on interlibrary loan through your local library. For a complete listing of State Library services, please visit the State Library's Web page.

For information about hours and holdings, contact library staff at:

The North Carolina State Archives does not lend microfilm. Microfilm may be viewed in the Archives Search Room during normal operating hours.

For information about hours and holdings, contact the North Carolina State Archives at:

The Correspondence Archivist may also be reached at: archives@ncdcr.gov.

Additional information about the North Carolina State Archives can be found on their website.

Microfilm Purchase

Microfilm may be purchased through the Division of Archives and History. Contact the North Carolina State Archives at (919) 807-7310 for details.