Chronology

News, Journalism & Broadcasting, Early twentieth century: 6 dated entries from the full dataset. Back to the highlights →

1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944
2. 1901–1948 Josephus Daniels serves on the University of North Carolina board of trusteesInstitutional role · Chapel Hill

   Daniels became a member of the university board of trustees in 1901 and remained an active trustee until his death in 1948. During the 1920s he pressed for consolidating the state colleges at Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Greensboro into one university, and in 1930 he championed Frank P. Graham to succeed Harry Woodburn Chase as president.

3. October 26, 1901 Josiah Turner Jr. dies at his Hillsborough homeDeath · Hillsborough (St. Matthew's Church)

   Josiah Turner Jr., former Confederate congressman and editor of the Raleigh Sentinel, died at his home in Hillsborough and was buried in the churchyard of St. Matthew's Church.

4. 1904 Phillips Russell graduates from the university and helps found the Golden FleeceGraduation · Chapel Hill

   Russell edited the student paper the Tar Heel and was one of the founders of the honorary society Golden Fleece before graduating in 1904.

5. June 7, 1929 The Tar Heel becomes the Daily Tar HeelPublication · Chapel Hill

   The commencement issue of June 7, 1929, was the first published as The Daily Tar Heel, after a plan to turn the tri-weekly Tar Heel into a daily went to the Student Activities Committee. Regular daily publication began with the new volume on September 20, 1929.

6. 1931 Phillips Russell returns to Chapel Hill to teach creative writingFaculty appointment · Chapel Hill

   After years as a newspaperman in New York and London, Russell came back in 1931 and taught writing at the university for twenty-five years, first in the English department and then in the School of Journalism. The Atlantic Monthly called his class, often held outdoors under the trees, one of the four best in the country.

7. April 27, 1931 Contempo and the Intimate Bookshop begin in Chapel HillPublication · Chapel Hill

   Milton Abernethy, Anthony Buttitta and three other young men distributed the first issue of Contempo, a four-page review of ideas and personalities, in Chapel Hill on April 27, 1931. They also ran the Intimate Bookshop from a dormitory room; by June it had moved above the Cavalier Cafeteria, and Contempo was later headquartered there.

The other dated entries wait behind a subject, a place, an era, a month, or the All dated entries switch, and each storyline’s page carries its own component entries. Dates come from the sources named on the cards and from the index’s event pages; where sources disagree, the card follows the county records. Entries marked approximate or needing research say so on the card; the rest were checked against the source named on it. Each card’s “Correct this” link opens the contact form with the entry already named. Suggest an event →

Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated September 14, 2026.