Reader brings us book of 1926 newspapers

Often you have to dig deep for history. Rarely does it walk through your front door.

But that was the case recently when our receptionist called to say a gentleman was here with an old StarNews book he wanted to give to us.

The StarNews has published a few modest books over the years -- ones on Michael Jordan, Hurricanes Bertha and Fran and the local film industry, come to mind. But I was not aware of anything that might be old.

It’s fun when a reader stops by with something newsworthy. Some years back when I was working in sports, a local fisherman called from our parking lot and said he was on his way home from the Outer Banks and had a 70-pound red drum in the trunk of his car. He thought we would want a photo for the fishing page. He was right.

As I’ve written before in Back Then, people used to bring all sorts of curiosities to the StarNews and other public places for folks to see -- from a giant turnip to a hammerhead shark to the first strawberries of the year.

I wasn’t expecting anything very exciting when I headed to the lobby to meet the man with the old book. At first glance, I was somewhat confused -- the tome he was carrying was about 17 inches wide and 21 inches tall. Hefting here at my desk, I’m guessing it ways about 15 pounds.

The content of the mystery book quickly became clear as the kind gentleman laid it on a table, opened the thick, hardback binding and revealed -- in all its sepia-toned glory -- two full months (July-August) of original editions of the Wilmington Morning Star from 1926. Considering their age, the editions were in good condition.

My research for Back Then is done primarily on microfilm, with some of the editions available on Google’s newspaper archive. The New Hanover County Library has a large collection of original editions of the StarNews, but I’ve been reluctant to use them because, like many old paper documents, they are very fragile.

It can make a history and newspaper buff shed a tear or two to turn a 50-year-old newspaper page only to see it come apart in your fingertips. So there’s a special delight in having 60 or so original editions of the StarNews sitting on my desk.

In 1926, the paper was published daily and Sunday by the Wilmington Morning Star Co., located at what then was 100 Chestnut Street. The building now houses the Copper Penny restaurant.

P.H. Batte was managing director and Lamont Smith editor. The best I can tell, the company was jointly owned by J.O. Carr, a Wilmington lawyer, and Holmes Davis, a local banker. (In 1927, the newspaper was purchased by the Page family of Columbus, Georgia) The daily price was 5 cents -- 10 cents on Sundays -- and a yearly delivered subscription was $9.

This particular bound volume came from the state library. In the days before microfilm, this is how newspapers were archived. The room at a newspaper office where the old newspapers were kept was called the “morgue.” At some point, the state library undertook a project to convert their extensive newspaper archives to microfilm.

The kind gentleman who gave us treasure -- Michael Odom of Mount Olive -- said he bought it awhile back at an auction. I suspect that after the microfilm project was finished, the state library began to dispose of the bound copies. Luckily, one fell into our hands.

It’s amazing to think that, 90 years ago, these pages were rolling off a press at what is now the Copper Penny. After the Page family bought the newspaper, they moved operations to the Murchison Building, just around the corner at Front and Chestnut streets.

As for the news contained on the pages, it’s easier to view on the microfilm version -- the Google News site, which is searchable, doesn’t go back that far. It will be a while before it happens, but the StarNews is beginning a project to digitize the newspaper’s entire archive -- going back to 1867. It will be searchable.

Our plans are to enjoy this physical reminder of our past for a while and then turn it over to the local history collection at the New Hanover County Library. It will be in good hands there, and the fragile pages are likely to have a longer shelf life. The Copper Penny is just down the street from the library, so before I drop it off, I plan to stop there, place it on the bar -- a homecoming for these old pages -- and then hoist a pint of good ale in memory and honor of the folks who have been producing the StarNews since 1867 -- appropriate, I think, as we begin the newspaper’s 150th anniversary year.

Contact Scott at 910-343-2272 or Scott.Nunn@StarNewsOnline.com. Browse the archives at StarNewsOnline.com/Community.