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Orange County Public Library

Published in Orange County

Three publishers with Orange County roots are represented throughout the library's collection. Browse a few books from each press here, follow the links to every title in the catalog, or read on for the printers and publishers who came before them, back to 1785.

Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina Press

Based in Chapel Hill since 1922, UNC Press publishes scholarly and general-interest books on subjects ranging from North Carolina history and civil rights to food, nature, culture, and the wider world.

248 titles in the library catalog as of September 17, 2026

More than 900 UNC Press titles are also free to read online with your library card, through NC LIVE's HomeGrown collection.

See every UNC Press title in the catalog, newest first ↗

Chapel Hill

Algonquin Books

Founded in Chapel Hill in 1983, Algonquin Books publishes literary fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers. Its books have reached readers around the country and regularly appear on national bestseller lists.

249 titles in the library catalog as of September 17, 2026

Nearly 200 Algonquin titles are also free to read online with your library card, through NC LIVE's HomeGrown collection.

See every Algonquin Books title in the catalog, newest first ↗

Hillsborough

Eno Publishers

A small Hillsborough press focused on North Carolina writing, local history, and regional culture, including Hidden Hillsborough.

10 titles in the library catalog as of September 17, 2026

See every Eno Publishers title in the catalog, newest first ↗

Printed and published in Orange County since 1785

Printing began in Hillsborough in 1785. Since then, newspaper offices, commercial printers, literary magazines, university presses and independent publishers have produced books and periodicals in Hillsborough and Chapel Hill.

  1. 1785 to 1792

    Printer

    Robert Ferguson

    Hillsborough

    Robert Ferguson operated Orange County's first known printing press beside the Hillsborough courthouse. He printed the North Carolina Gazette in 1785 and 1786 and the journal of the 1788 convention that met in Hillsborough to debate the proposed federal constitution. In 1791, he moved to the Southwest Territory and established the Knoxville Gazette.

  2. 1820 to 1869

    Printer

    Dennis Heartt, later D. Heartt & Son

    Hillsborough

    Heartt founded the Hillsborough Recorder in February 1820 and ran it for nearly fifty years, selling it the year before he died; the paper itself lasted until 1879. Town ordinances, sermons and academy catalogs came off the same press, and so in 1845 did the poems of George Moses Horton, the enslaved poet who sold verses to students in Chapel Hill.

    16 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  3. 1826

    Publisher

    John Allen, Jun.

    Hillsborough

    A collection of hymns and spiritual songs for family worship, published under Allen's own name in Hillsborough.

    1 work with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  4. 1832 to 1834

    Printers

    Faustus Castle and Isaac C. Patridge

    Hillsborough and Chapel Hill

    Faustus Castle printed in Hillsborough in 1832. The following year, Isaac C. Patridge began printing The Harbinger in Chapel Hill; fifty issues survive online. Another Chapel Hill newspaper, the Columbian Repository, followed in 1836.

    4 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  5. 1849 to 1858

    Newspaper job printing

    The N.C. Democrat office, and the Gazette office

    Hillsborough and Chapel Hill

    Both towns' newspapers took in outside work: the town ordinances in Hillsborough, a life of Governor Richard Caswell and the catalog of Elisha Mitchell's library in Chapel Hill.

    4 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  6. 1858 to 1861

    Printers to the University

    James M. Henderson, then John B. Neathery

    Chapel Hill

    Both printers used "printer to the University" on their title pages in the years before the Civil War. Surviving works from their shops include commencement addresses, a memoir of Chief Justice Frederick Nash and the constitution of the campus YMCA.

    6 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  7. 1868

    Printer

    Saunders' Drug Store Print

    Chapel Hill

    Only one surviving work has been identified from the press at Saunders' Drug Store: The Thrilling Narrative of the Fair Nelly K---, or, Why the Wedding Was Not Postponed.

    1 work with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  8. 1894 to 1895

    Printers

    University Press Company and University Job Print

    Chapel Hill

    These were commercial Chapel Hill printers, not predecessors of UNC Press, which was founded nearly thirty years later.

    2 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  9. 1922 to today

    Book publisher

    The University of North Carolina Press

    Chapel Hill

    Founded in 1922 and still based in Chapel Hill, UNC Press is the largest Orange County publisher represented in the index.

    See its books at the top of this page

    242 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  10. 1923 to 1953

    Job printer

    Orange Printshop

    Chapel Hill

    Orange Printshop was a job printer on East Rosemary Street. It produced several editions of the Chapel Hill Cook Book and printed both Orange County history books published in 1953, which OCPL still holds.

    6 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  11. 1931 to 1934

    Literary landmark

    Literary magazine

    Contempo

    Chapel Hill

    Milton Abernethy and Anthony Buttitta published Contempo from the Intimate Bookshop from 1931 to 1934. Despite its brief run and ten-cent price, the magazine published William Faulkner, Langston Hughes, Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound.

    The issue of February 1, 1932, was devoted entirely to Faulkner. The December 1931 issue focused on the Scottsboro case and included Hughes's "Christ in Alabama." Hughes subsequently came to Chapel Hill to read, prompting a local controversy over his appearance.

    1 work with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  12. 1960s to 1980s

    Printer

    Shanklin's Press

    Hillsborough

    Thomas Shanklin began printing at home before moving the business downtown, first to a basement in Hillsborough's Black business district and later to Cornelius Street. His son Gerald eventually took it over. The shop served clients in five counties, producing business cards, mailers, funeral programs, campaign materials and show posters. In 1983, it printed a history of Orange County's schools.

    1 work with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  13. 1982 to 1991

    Book publishers

    Four Corners Press and Barclay Publishers

    Chapel Hill

    Four Corners Press specialized in basketball books, including March to the Top, published after UNC's 1982 championship. Barclay Publishers issued Chapel Hill: An Illustrated History, which OCPL holds.

    8 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  14. 1983 to today

    Book publisher

    Algonquin Books

    Founded in Chapel Hill

    Founded in Chapel Hill in 1983, Algonquin is now an imprint of New York-based Hachette Book Group. Library records continue to preserve its historical imprint name, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

    See its books at the top of this page

    10 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  15. 2010 to today

    Book publisher

    Eno Publishers

    Hillsborough

    An active Hillsborough press specializing in North Carolina writing, regional culture and local history.

    See its books at the top of this page

    6 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

Newspapers and magazines

Books are only part of Orange County's publishing history. The Sun and Shannon Media continue to publish in Chapel Hill. Local newspaper offices have operated since the eighteenth century, while students, military cadets, civil-rights organizations and local schools have produced publications for their own communities.

  1. Publishing today

  2. 1974 to today

    Magazine

    The Sun

    Chapel Hill

    Sy Safransky started The Sun here in 1974 and it has been published in Chapel Hill ever since, reader-supported and carrying no advertising. The library holds Many Alarm Clocks, drawn from its pages.

    3 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  3. Today

    Magazine publisher

    Shannon Media

    Chapel Hill

    The house behind Chapel Hill Magazine, The Weekly, The Downtowner and the yearly school guides.

    4 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  4. 2017 to today

    Newspaper publisher

    DTH Media Corp.

    Chapel Hill

    DTH Media publishes the Daily Tar Heel and standalone championship and rivalry editions. The newspaper began in 1893, and more than 14,000 issues have been digitized.

    8 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  5. Newspaper houses

  6. 1878 to 1918

    Newspaper publisher

    Joseph A. Harris

    Chapel Hill, then Hillsborough

    Joseph A. Harris founded the Weekly Ledger in Chapel Hill in 1878 and later renamed it the Chapel Hill Ledger. In 1880, he moved to Hillsborough and established the Orange County Observer, which he and later R. C. Strudwick published into 1918. Both newspapers are available online.

    4 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  7. 1880

    Newspaper

    The Southern Mail

    Hillsborough

    T. B. Ryan published the Southern Mail in Hillsborough in 1880, the same year Harris brought the Observer to town. No digitized run is currently available.

    1 work with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  8. 1967 to 1992

    Newspaper publisher

    Chapel Hill Publishing Co.

    Chapel Hill

    Chapel Hill Publishing Co. published the Chapel Hill Weekly and later the Chapel Hill Newspaper. The Weekly began in 1923, increased to twice-weekly publication in 1955 and was succeeded in 1972 by the daily paper. Indexed imprints range from a 1967 map of Chapel Hill and Carrboro to the newspaper itself in 1992.

    DigitalNC provides the paper's first forty years. The North Carolina Collection holds the later issues on microfilm.

    6 works with this imprint in Orange County Indexed

  9. 1954 to 1959

    Newspaper publisher

    News Leader Co.

    Chapel Hill

    Publisher of the Chapel Hill News Leader, the town's other paper for six years. Its whole run, 483 issues, is scanned.

  10. 1893 to today

    Newspaper

    The News of Orange County

    Hillsborough

    The county's paper of record since 1893, published in Hillsborough: first by The News, Incorporated, from offices in Hillsboro and Chapel Hill, and now by Womack Publishing Company of Chatham, Virginia. The paper is local; its owner is not.

  11. Papers for particular readers

  12. 1914 to 1944

    University weekly

    The University of North Carolina News Letter

    Chapel Hill

    The University's Bureau of Extension published this weekly digest from 1914. It presented state data on population, taxes and the rural economy through short articles, tables and graphs. DigitalNC provides 647 issues, covering the years to 1928.

  13. 1936 to 1937

    Civil liberties bulletin

    People's Rights Bulletin

    Chapel Hill

    The Southern Committee for People's Rights put this out from Chapel Hill in the middle of the Depression: teachers in Memphis denied the right to organize, sharecroppers in Arkansas, Senator La Follette's inquiry into civil liberties. Four issues survive.

  14. 1942 to 1945

    Service paper

    Cloudbuster

    Chapel Hill

    The Navy Pre-Flight School's weekly newspaper covered training, promotions, dances and athletics during World War II. Ted Williams trained in Chapel Hill and played baseball for the Cloudbusters. DigitalNC provides 156 issues.

  15. 1944 to 1965

    School paper

    The Orange Echo, later The Lincoln Echo

    Chapel Hill

    The paper of Lincoln High School, Chapel Hill's school for Black students until integration merged it into Chapel Hill High in 1966. Sports, school events, building work and students' own writing. Only a few dozen issues are known to survive anywhere; thirty-six of them are scanned, most from the Chapel Hill Historical Society.

  16. 1969 to 2001

    Student paper

    Black Ink

    Chapel Hill

    The Black Student Movement's paper at the University, and by its own account the training ground for a generation of Black journalists there. It started as a newsletter in 1969, became a newspaper and then a magazine. 212 issues are scanned.

  17. 1976 to 2013

    Student paper

    Lambda

    Chapel Hill

    Started in 1976 as a newsletter for the Carolina Gay Association, it ran on through the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association and the groups that followed as an activist paper, then a magazine, then a blog. 91 issues are scanned, covering thirty-seven years of arguments local and national.

  18. 1993 to 2006

    Student paper

    East Wind

    Chapel Hill

    The Asian Students Association's newspaper provided a forum for Asian American life at UNC. Its fifteen digitized issues include editorials, restaurant reviews and debate over the University's diversity curriculum.

Twenty-eight Orange County newspapers are available page by page through DigitalNC, from the 1785 North Carolina Gazette and the Hillsborough Recorder to the Chapel Hill Weekly, The News of Orange County, Lincoln High School's newspaper and Black Ink. Browse the scans at DigitalNC ↗ More runs on microfilm at UNC ↗

OCPL's Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection holds county newspapers on microfilm from 1820 to the present. Patrons can use the collection with assistance during local-history help hours. The microfilm at your library ↗

About these listings

The books above come from each press's titles in the library catalog, as last checked on September 17, 2026. A different six appear each day, and only books with a jacket on Open Library are shown. The catalog link under each press lists everything the library holds from that publisher, including recent additions.

The historical entries are selected from a much larger record assembled through Orange County Indexed. That record brings together locally published works, institutional publications, newspapers and one-title imprints found in library collections across North Carolina.

Each entry links to the catalog record or source supporting it. Counts are from September 2026. We omit imprints that occur only once when no other source confirms the publisher's identity.

This page is provided as a community resource. The Friends do not select or fund the library's collection.

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

Browse New Arrivals → Meet Local Authors → Research Orange County →
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Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026