Library Delivers Online Access to Over 100 Years of the News & Observer

Thanks to funding from the Leslie Syron endowment, the Carlyle Campbell Library recently purchased an online archive of the Raleigh News & Observer, the newspaper with the highest print circulation and online traffic in North Carolina. This archive contains digital scans of every issue of the newspaper from 1910 through the present. Individual articles can be viewed as they appeared in the original newspaper, and downloaded or printed as PDFs.

This opens up the potential for faculty, staff, and students to explore the history and culture of Raleigh and the state of North Carolina over the course of the 20th century. You can find local perspectives on major national and international events, discover mentions of local relatives or alums, and even peruse the advertisements for a window into the culture and fashions of the times. Our hope is that the campus community will find this engaging resource useful for course assignments as well as personal research.

Searching the News & Observer Collection enables you to not only access the complete historical run of newspaper issues, but also all the articles, videos, and blogs that have been posted to the N&O website up to the present day. After running your search, it’s best to change the sort order of your results from “Newest” to “Best Match,” which can be done at the top left. Clicking an article result will open an image of the article, where you can use the toolbar above to zoom in or out, email, print, download, or make a link that you can put in Brightspace. A “Clip” tool allows you to select a particular area on the page and make a custom PDF of it. For more tips and tricks, use our Ask a Librarian service.

In addition to its prominence as a chronicle of North Carolina, the News & Observer has also regularly covered events and developments at Meredith College over the decades. According to Dan Fountain, Professor of History, “multiple members of the Board of Trustees served as executive officers and directors for the newspaper.  This meant that Meredith College was routinely covered in the pages of the N&O, and this coverage has provided a great many insights into our early history.”  For a rather on-point example, see the screenshot below of an article covering the Alice production in 1980!

If you would like to simply browse the latest issues of the newspaper online, bookmark our News & Observer Digital Image Edition link.  From this link, you can easily open the five most recent issues, or browse by date for the last six years.  This is a great way to stay informed on area news and happenings, or simply read the comics page to start your day on a lighter note!