The Harrington Papers

Biography and the Transcriptions

John McLean Harrington, 1839-1887, published 302 issues of handwritten newspapers in his journalistic career, which stretched from January 1858 to April 1869. He served as the postmaster and publisher in a community about 30 miles south of Raleigh, in Harnett County, North Carolina. The transcriptions below are based on the originals from collections at the Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library, Perkins Library at Duke University and the Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition, the transcriptions are based on microfilm produced in 1998 by the state of North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources microfilmed by the Division of Archives and History, Archives and Records Section, Raleigh, N.C.

The Young American Vol. 1

• No. 1
• No. 2
• No. 3
• No. 4
• No. 5
• No. 6
• No. 8

The Nation Vol. 1

• April 17, 1858
• April 24, 1858
• May 1, 1858
• May 28, 1858
• June 5, 1858

The Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University features many of the original newspapers written by John McLean Harrington. This link provides additional information: https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/harringtonj.

WRAL TV reports on John McLean Harrington April 12, 2011, the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War.