THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 25, 1994 TAG: 9409220194
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 19 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: Perry Parks
DATELINE: EDENTON LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
SIXTY YEARS AGO, you could sit down in the classy King's Arms Tavern and enjoy a complete Sunday dinner - with shrimp cocktail and dessert - for 65 cents.
So boasts an ad from a 1934 edition of the Chowan Herald, now reproduced and mounted in the Chowan Arts Council gallery.
The full-page ad is one of 50 newspaper reproductions lining the walls in the council's facility beneath the E.A. Swain Auditorium. The exhibit will soon be moved upstairs to line an introductory corridor for the permanent ``Century of Chowan Through Photographs'' display.
The newspaper pages, which chronicle 100 years of the county's local journal, carry visitors through two world wars and the evolving lifestyles of Chowan. But organizers say the advertised prices of a sit-down dinner or a bedroom set or a dress are attracting the lion's share of attention.
``People have been most interested in what a dollar would buy in days gone by,'' said Ann Perry, the arts council's executive director.
To create the exhibit, Chowan native Corinne Thorud rooted through 60 years worth of Chowan Herald editions on microfilm.
Thorud, who said her great-grandfather was chosen by President U.S. Grant to write the history of Chowan County, said the family interest in local history ``was just passed along to me.''
The newspaper selections reflect the important issues of the times they cover. Even the publication's early name - it was called the Fisherman and Farmer in the late 1800s - helps describe the community it served.
In 1907, the Edenton Transcript lauded the passage of a local measure banning the sale of whiskey: ``Temperance Forces Win a Glorious Victory.''
Another popular page is a 1914 Carolina Motor Co. ad naming the high-powered people who had invested in brand new Studebakers.
``That was one of the most attracting things,'' Thorud said. ``Imagine putting in the paper who's worth $10,000 to $100,000.''
Personal items in the early news were also ``very personal,'' Thorud said. Columns and columns of ink were devoted to notices like ``Mrs. Marshall Hardison spent last week with her mother, Mrs. Ben Hassell.''
The detail makes the papers worth viewing more than once, Perry said.
``People have come back two times this weekend,'' she said. ``It's more than you can take in briefly.'' by CNB