Copyright Notice: This article is from the Encyclopedia of North Carolina edited by William S. Powell. Copyright © 2006 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

Broadsides, or broadsheets, single sheets of paper with printed text on one or both sides, were used in England as early as 1575 to communicate various kinds of information. The earliest known broadside printed in North Carolina, probably at the press of public printer James Davis in New Bern, appeared in 1757. It was a proclamation from royal governor Arthur Dobbs prohibiting the payment of taxes with notes or bills issued by James Murray and John Rutherfurd. Broadsides often dealt with strictly local matters such as politics, crime, religion, business, slavery, railroads, canals, education, real estate, military affairs, and upcoming entertainments.

References:

Ray O. Hummel Jr., ed., Southeastern Broadsides before 1877: A Bibliography (1971).

Douglas C. McMurtrie, Eighteenth Century North Carolina Imprints, 1749-1800 (1938).

Additional Resources:

Broadsides at Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://docsouth.unc.edu/global/result.html?term=Broadsides.

"Miscellaneous Broadsides, 1814-1979." Southern Historical Collection. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/m/Misc.Broadsides.html

Harwell, Richard B. North Carolina broadsides, 1801-1861: a preliminary list from the Duke University Library. 1939.

"North Carolina broadside collection," Rubenstein Libraries, Duke University.

Image Credits:

Broadside advertising the Bingham Camp for tourists at Mebane, ca. 1930. North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.

Citation

Powell, William S. "Broadsides." NCpedia. Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press. Accessed on December 12th, 2024. http://ncpedia-02.dcs.mcnc.org/broadsides.