Researching Southeast North Carolina History

Local and regional NC newspapers can be searched and accessed online using the following databases. These resources are freely available to the public and do not require a UNCW login.

• The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center: This project brings together a wide variety of digitized collections (primarily newspapers, yearbooks, and local publications) from across the state of North Carolina.
• Chronicling America: Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, Chronicling America contains over 20 million newspapers from across the United States, including many small North Carolina papers. This database includes newspapers from approximately 1777 to 1963.
• The Columbus County News Reporter: The News Reporter has been the newspaper of record in Columbus County since 1896, with a special focus on Whiteville and the surrounding communities. This database includes a near-complete run of issues for 1924-1984, as well as incomplete coverage for 1905-1923.

Additionally, the databases below are accessible with a UNCW login, or by visiting Randall Library and using a guest computer.

• Historic North Carolina Digital Newspaper Collection: This database contains 3.5 million pages of digitized content from over 1,000 NC county newspapers ranging in date from  1751 to 1999. It is powered by Newspapers.com and hosted by NC LIVE. Please note that this database is accessible to users outside the UNCW community with a library card from any North Carolina public library.
• Wilmington Star-News (full description follows)

• 1868-1922: accessible online via the Star-News database.
• 1923-1939: Available on microfilm at Randall Library.
• 1940-1947: accessible online via Chronicling America.
• 1948: Available on microfilm at Randall Library.
• 1949-1994: accessible online via the Star-News database.
• 1995-2018: accessible online via the Star-News database (text only; no images or full page facsimiles available).
• 2019-present: accessible online via the Star-News database.

If you need an issue that hasn't been digitized, you can visit Randall Library to request the microfilm version of the newspaper. See the catalog record below for more information.