So, What Actually Happened?
The News and Observer, of Raleigh, NC reported on December 26 that the North Carolina archives project had finished scanning over 42,000 images from over 4,200 newspapers ranging in dates from 1751-1899. This is a remarkable, and incredible collection of primary source material for use in the History classroom.
It's incomplete - some years are missing (like 1776), and some only have a few issues. Some copies are damaged and hard to read, and the full text search doesn't work too well. You also need to remember that there was no telephone or Internet. When things happened, it took a while for them to get in the paper.
All that being said, there are some pretty incredible nuggets in there. Take this from July 11, 1777:
"All white male inhabitants....shall take...the following oath...I ______ do swear, or affirm, that I renounce and refuse all allegiance to George the Third, King of Great Britain, his heirs and officers, and that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance, to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as a free an independent state, and tha I will not at any time do, or cause to be done, any matter or thing that will be prejudicial or ingerous to the freedom and the independence thereof."
It's really cool primary source material, certainly, and great discussion starters for classrooms or for research papers. Take a look, leave anything useful that you find in the comments.
North Carolina Newspaper Digitization Project
