Randolph County History Books & Other Published Material
The library has worked with the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center to digitize and display online most of the key county history books. Some other items from our collection have been digitized and made available by the staff of the Randolph Room. Follow the links below to read the books.
Randolph County, 1779-1979, by Randolph County Historical Society (N.C.), Randolph Arts Guild
The Architectural History of Randolph County by L. McKay Whatley
Dan Tucker and other Randolph County Heroes in Folklore by Barbara Presnell
Fairview Park: The Country Estate of W. Gould Brokaw, Esq. (promotional booklet)
Farmer, Yesterday and Today: Families, Individuals, Churches, Schools edited by Zeb R. Denny
Franklinsville Manufacturing Company History by George Russell (the typewritten history of the Company, part of a larger scrapbook by Mr. Russell); on long-term loan from Randolph Heritage Conservancy
Randolph County, NC World War I Casualties by L. McKay Whatley, Jr., Ann W. Palmer, Roberta W. Gavin and Wanda Williamson
Seagrove Area by Dorothy Cole Auman
Sketches of My Asheboro by Sidney Swaim Robins
Snapshots of Randolph County -
Rotogravure 1931 published by The Courier newspaper; 16 pages of information and images of manufacturing, mercantile and other buildings, business leaders and builders/contractors in Asheboro, Ramseur, Worthville, Staley, Franklinville and Liberty.
Pictorial (circa 1950) published by The Courier-Tribune newspaper; 48 pages of information and images of manufacturing, mercantile and other buildings with business leaders as well in every town in the county.
Randolph Report & Business Review 1964 published by The Randolph Guide newspaper; 93 pages in five sections, covering too many topics to list here.
Some Progressive Negroes of Randolph County by C.A. Barrett
The Story of Naomi Wise and the History of Randleman by the Rotary Club of Randleman (N.C.)
Newspapers
Available through our friends at Digital NC, among many other North Carolina newspapers, here are some local titles (arranged by oldest date available):
Southern Citizen and Man of Business (Ashborough, NC): 132 issues, 1836-1840; 1844
North Carolina Bulletin (Asheborough, NC): 4 issues from 1856-1857
The Courier (Asheboro, NC): 1852 issues from 1876-1877; 1879; 1884; 1891; 1903-1912; 1914-1937
The Randolph Sun (Asheboro, NC): 1 issue, 13 July 1878
The North Carolina Prohibitionist (Bush Hill, NC): 92 issues from 1886-1888
The Political Broadaxe (Randleman, NC): 2 issues from 1890
The Liberty Register (Liberty, NC): 62 issues from 1899-1900
The Randolph Bulletin (Asheboro, NC): 337 issues from 1905-1912
The Bulletin and Randleman News (Asheboro, NC); 106 issues from 1914-1915
High School Yearbooks
Ash-Hi-Life, Asheboro High School: 1932; 1938-1943; 1945; 1947-1967
Chapel Memories, Grays Chapel High School: 1952-1955; 1959
The Cardinal/Highlights of F.H.S., Franklinville School: 1953-1956; 1958-1960; 1963-1966
Far-Echoes, Farmer High School: 1953 [new addition; not digitized]; 1955; 1964-1967
The Ramsonian, Ramseur High School: 1963-1968
The Rendezvous, Randleman High School: 1944, 1947, 1957-1973
The Scrapper, Liberty High School: 1947-1968
The Se-Hi, Seagrove High School: 1945; 1947-1949; 1951-1958; 1960; 1963; 1965-1970
The Trinhian, Trinity High School: 1944; 1945; 1947-1959; 1962-1966; 1968-1973
The Trinity Hi Annual, Trinity High School Annual: 1939
Scrapbooks
Asheboro Finer Carolina scrapbook 1952
Asheboro Finer Carolina scrapbook 1953
Asheboro Finer Carolina scrapbook 1954
Asheboro Finer Carolina scrapbook 1955
Asheboro Finer Carolina scrapbook 1956
Asheboro Finer Carolina scrapbook 1958
Asheboro High School photo scrapbook (anonymous donation)
Asheboro Junior Woman's Club scrapbook, 1959-1960
Asheboro Kiwanis Club scrapbook, 1950
Archdale/Trinity Area in the 1970s (personal scrapbook)
Cranford Scrapbook (newspaper clippings gathered by either Mrs. C.C. (Ethel Cox) Cranford or her daughter Sarah Elizabeth Cranford of marriages and musical events in Asheboro and surrounding communities, 1949-1958; also includes some histories of the county)
Franklinville Scrapbooks by Maxine Yorke/York Benson (1921-2018) donated by her niece Priscilla Yorke Dunn.
Maxine Yorke Scrapbook (personal scrapbook containing school event programs (Franklinville School), invitations, report cards, holiday cards and other items; dates span 1935 to 1941, items are generally organized chronologically although loose items are in various places; bulk of items pre-date 1940)
Maxine York Benson Scrapbook (personal newspaper clipping scrapbook focused on Franklinville but including other areas of Randolph County; dates span 1941 to 1967 but pages are not arranged chronologically)
Donald Raeford Hill Scrapbook (personal scrapbook includes selected people and places in Randolph County; date unknown)
Home Demonstration Clubs - two scrapbooks from the 12th District, Federation of North Carolina Home Demonstration Clubs. Donated by Bernice Millikan Davis through her daughter Kay Davis Coltrane. The scrapbooks were scanned in their entirety; other items from this Collection are available in the Randolph Room.
Klopman Mills Process Scrapbook
George Russell Scrapbook (ca. 1922; typewritten history of the Franklinsville Manufacturing Company and photographs regarding the same, on long-term loan from Randolph Heritage Conservancy)
McCrary Eagles - undated but believed to be spanning 1937-1940s; newspaper clippings, Western Union telegrams and some original photographs related to the McCrary Eagles baseball and basketball teams. Posts holding scrapbook together were removed and pages most likely not retained in original order prior to its donation to The Randolph Room with other materials from The Courier-Tribune newsroom.
Randolph Library Association - forerunner to the Randolph Library Foundation, this newspaper clipping scrapbook includes items from roughly 1938 through 1940
Sophia Scrapbooks by Althea Farlow Brown (1897-1983) (for 50 years Mrs. Brown was the Sophia/New Market area correspondent for The Courier and Courier-Tribune; more complete descriptions of these three news clipping scrapbooks, which are digitized in smaller parts due to their size) are found in Vol. 1, Pt. 1 and Vol. 3, Pt. 1) - Vol. 1, Part 1; Vol. 1, Part 2; Vol. 1, Part 3; Vol. 1, Part 4; Vol. 1 Part 5; Vol 2, Part 1; Vol. 2, Part 2; Vol. 2, Part 3; Vol. 2, Part 4; Vol. 3, Part 1; Vol. 3, Part 2; Vol. 3, Part 3)
World War II Service Scrapbook-Army
Northern Randolph Historical Society Quarterly Journals
The North Randolph Historical Society Quarterlies were published from 1966 until 1973 and are available here through agreement with the North Randolph Historical Society. These digitized issues are searchable individually; once a PDF is open, hold down the CTRL + F keys to activate a search box. The Index is also a valuable tool to help you find particular information. Physical copies of the Quarterlies are also available in the Randolph Room.
Index
Volume 1-2, No. 1 (August 1966-August 1967)
Volume 1-2, No. 2 (March 1968)
Volume 1-2, No. 3 (June 1968)
Volume 1-2, No. 4 (September 1968)
Volume 1-2, No. 5 (December 1968)
Volume 3, No. 6 (Spring 1969)
Volume 3, No. 7 (Summer 1969)
Volume 3, No. 8 (Fall 1969)
Volume 3, No. 9 (Winter 1969)
Volume 4, No. 10 (Spring 1970)
Volume 4, No. 11 (Summer 1970)
Volume 4, No. 12 (Fall 1970)
Volume 4, No. 13 (Winter 1970)
Volume 5, No. 14 (Spring - Summer 1971)
Volume 5, No. 15 (Fall - Winter 1971)
Volume 6, No. 16 (Spring 1972)
Volume 6, No. 17 (Summer 1972)
Volume 6, No. 18 (Fall 1972)
Volume 6, No. 19 (Winter 1972)
Volume 6, No. 20 (Spring 1973)
Volume 6, No. 21 (Summer 1973)
Volume 6, No. 22 (Fall 1973)
Volume 6, No. 23 (Winter 1973)
Historical Records
Abstracts of the Confederate Conscript Office Papers 1862-1865, 7th North Carolina Congressional District (searchable pdf). Lists of detailed men including free men of color; officeholders exempt from conscription; men seeking medical exemptions from conscription; and lists of deserters, recusants and prisoners. May include age, occupation, militia unit, and names of friends/neighbors supporting exemption claims.
Record Book of the Camp of Senior Reserves, 7th North Carolina Congressional District, Confederate States Army, 1864-1865 (searchable pdf). Includes special orders of Randolph County Enrolling Officer John H. Welborn; lists of deserters, recusant conscripts and federal prisoners in Asheboro; lists of conscripts and senior reserves from Asheboro; lists of detailed free men of color from Anson, Davidson, Montgomery and Moore Counties; and lists of conscripts from Anson, Davidson, Montgomery and Moore counties.
Randolph County Slave Deeds
Randolph County Slave Deeds lists the slave deeds found on the Randolph County Register of Deeds Site and has a link to the actual deed. You can search by enslaved person's name or owner name by first pressing and holding down Control and then F and entering the information in the search box.
Bryant Headen and Friends -- An Oral History
Bryant Headen, Sr., the first African American police officer in Asheboro, N.C., talks about his experiences during segregation the Civil Rights era. He is joined by his wife Carrie Headen, community member Robert Freeland, former police colleague Bobby Brewer, and Brewer's wife Joan. Also community historian Mary Rush and County History Librarian L. McKay Whatley, Jr., of the Randolph County Public Library. The interview took place at the Asheboro Public Library, February 28, 2020.
Katie Snuggs and the Civil Rights Era in Asheboro
Katie Snuggs, the first African American woman elected to the Asheboro City Council, talks about her experiences in Asheboro during the Civil Rights era in a talk at the Asheboro Public Library on February 27, 2020.
Eldora Allen on Educational Integration in Randolph County
Retired educator Eldora Allen reflects on her experiences as a student when Asheboro, North Carolina, schools were integrated in the 1960s in a talk at the Randleman Public Library, February 4, 2020.
From Hill Town to Strieby with Margo Lee Williams
Author, genealogist and historian Margo Lee Williams talks about her book From Hill Town to Strieby, about the unique history and influence of a small African American community in southwestern Randolph County that traces its origins to the 1840s.
John McGlohon: Photographing the Hiroshima Bombing
At a Friends of the Library event on August 11,2016, former Asheboro fire chief and city council member John McGlohon talks witnessing and photographing atomic bombing of Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945, Japan. McGlohon's comments begin at 08:35.
McGlohon's photographs can be viewed here.
Growing Up in Post-Civil Rights Asheboro
Authors Mark Kemp (Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race, and New Beginnings in a New South, 2004) and Thomas Rush (Reality's Pen: Reflections on Family, History & Culture, 2012), talk about growing up in Asheboro, N.C., in the 1970s.
Asheboro in the Movies
From 1936-1942, H. Lee Waters visited small towns in central North Carolina and surrounding states, and filmed local citizens. The resulting movies were shown in local theaters before the main features. Duke University obtained and digitized his collection. Watch them below!
One of H. Lee Waters' films featured Asheboro's African American community circa 1940. Asheboro resident Thomas Rush is leading an initiative to identify people who appear in the film; view the identifications to date here. If you can identify anyone else, please contact us (please provide the individuals' names and the time code at which they appear in the film).
