Newspapers Provide a Unique View of the Past

Behind the scenes at The Transylvania Times, 1967

One of the most common requests in the Local History Room at the Transylvania County Library is for newspaper articles of past events.  The Library has microfilm of all available editions of the Sylvan Valley News, Brevard News, and Transylvania Times through 2015.  More recent issues of the Transylvania Times are available in hardcopy.

The difficulty in locating information arises when the exact date of the event or newspaper coverage is not known.  For the most part the newspapers are not indexed but there are a few strategies that can be used to assist in searches.

For newspapers prior to July 1940 the easiest means of access is through DigitalNC.org.  Included in the collection are Sylvan Valley News, 1903-1916; The Brevard News, 1917-1932 and The Transylvania Times, 1933-June 1940.  It should be noted that there are gaps in the collection though.

Sylvan Valley News, December 1, 1916

To learn exactly which issues are available each newspaper has a calendar for every year.  For example, in 1910 the Sylvan Valley News was published on Fridays and all issues are available.  In 1930 the Brevard News came out on Wednesdays, except for October 30^th, which was a Thursday.  There are also seven issues missing that year.

Advanced search options allow for keyword or phrase searches that can also be limited by newspaper and date.  As an example, a search for last week’s Picturing the Past article using the term “moonshine” included 23 results from the Sylvan Valley News, 48 from the Brevard News and 60 from the Transylvania Times.  Experimenting with a variety of search options and words will lead to different results.

The Brevard News, February 16, 1928

Currently newspapers after mid-1940 are not available digitally, so searching requires browsing through microfilm page by page. Therefore, it is helpful to narrow down the date range as much as possible. The Local History Room also has archival files that include clippings on businesses, organizations, people and major events that can often be used to provide a time frame for additional searches on microfilm. 

It should be noted that there are two large gaps in the Transylvania Times holdings from July 1940 through March 1941 and from mid-March through mid-September 1953.

The Transylvania Times, August 11, 1938

Complete runs of the Ecusta Echo, 1940-1954 and DuPont Fotofax, 1968-1988 are available on DigitalNC, as well.  And, Brevard College has made hundreds of issues of their student paper from 1933-2011 available through the same online resource.  A search of these company and student papers can sometimes narrow the date range or provide added information.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments, or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.