The rare book collection at Wilson Library at UNC-Chapel Hill has most, if not all issues of Contempo, a literary newspaper that was published in Chapel Hill from 1931-1934. The beautifully designed, and provocative newspaper was founded and published by Milton A. Abernathy and Anthony Buttitta in their dorm room at UNC, along with fellow students Shirley Carter, Phil Liskin and Vincent Garoffolo. The "little magazine" was a literary and social commentary newspaper that included book reviews, poetry, community news, and articles on social issues like injustice, racism, censorship, sex and morality. It leaned toward anarchism, socialism & communism in its tone. The short-lived newspaper included articles and poetry by some big names in writing at the time as well, like William Faulkner (even a whole issue by him), Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, D.H. Lawrence, Samuel Beckett, E.E. Cummings, T.S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, Aldous Huxley, James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, Upton Sinclair & more.
Interestingly too, the founders of the paper founded the Intimate Bookshop in their dorm room which subsequently moved to East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill and lived there for close to 60 years with a rich history all its own.
Scroll through some snapshots of the paper:
