"Newspaper publishing in North Carolina began on August 9, 1751, with the publication of the North Carolina Gazette in New Bern by James Davis.  The first known surviving issue of the Gazette is the oldest in the series of eighteenth-century newspapers that were microfilmed by Archives and History beginning in 1959.  Newspapers from six towns— Edenton, Fayetteville, Halifax, Hillsborough, and Salisbury, in addition to New Bern—are represented in the series.  Because the eighteenth-century newspapers are predominantly from eastern towns, in the selection of representative newspapers from the early nineteenth century, primary consideration was given to those west of Raleigh.  The Western Carolinian (Salisbury, 1820-1844) was the first successful newspaper west of Milton.  The weekly, four-page paper was a vigorous champion of the interests of western North Carolina, an opponent to the political dominance of the East, and an advocate for better roads, education, and internal improvements.  In addition to Rowan, the paper covered Burke, Cabarrus, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Stokes, Surry, and Wilkes counties, based upon an analysis of death and marriage notices.  The run is reasonably complete, with some issues missing for 1836, 1837, 1838, and 1841.  The run of the Carolina Watchman (Salisbury, 1832-1898), also a weekly, extended well past that of the Western Carolinian.  Established in part to oppose the political opinions of the other Salisbury paper, the Watchman outlasted its rival and continued beyond the Jacksonian period to cover sectional strife and post-Civil War issues."  (Carolina Comments, July 2007)

Listed below are the names of the North Carolina counties for which the library has newspapers on microfilm.  Click on a county name to see what newspapers the library has for that particular county.

Within the county, newspapers are arranged chronologically, except in the instances where titles are continued by other papers. The whole run of a particular title with its continuances is shown together, even if other titles in the same county are then out of chronological order.

Alamance Anson Beaufort Bladen Buncombe Burke Carteret Cherokee Cherokee County, Georgia Chowan Clay Craven Cumberland Duplin Durham Edgecomb Forsyth

Franklin Gaston Granville Guilford Halifax Harnett Haywood Henderson Hertford Iredell Jackson Lincoln Macon McDowell Mecklenburg Mitchell Montgomery

Nash New Hanover Orange Pitt Polk Rowan Rutherford Stokes Surry Swain Transylvania Wake Warren Wayne Wilkes Wilson