The Hillsborough Recorder was a widely-read newspaper in Hillsborough, Orange County, and beyond that was published from 1820 to 1879. The Recorder was established and published by Connecticut native Dennis Heartt at a time when there were not many newspapers being printed in central and western North Carolina; the Recorder became what one historian called the best-known newspaper in central North Carolina. In the newspaper’s pages, readers found local news, reprints of reports and letters from other U.S. newspapers, practical suggestions for farmers and housewives, the work of local literary talent, and political opinions favoring the Whig Party. Prior to and during the Civil War, Heartt published racist, pro-slavery, and anti-abolition pieces and content.
Throughout his career, Heartt trained numerous apprentices, including William W. Holden, who became an accomplished newspaperman himself before entering the arena of North Carolina politics. In 1845, Heartt also published an edition of poems by the enslaved poet George Moses Horton. Additionally, Heartt was part of a movement and convention that sought to improve the standards of newspapers in North Carolina. He passed away in Hillsborough in 1870.
In 1869, shortly before his death, Heartt sold the Recorder to the publishers of The Milton Chronicle, of Milton, North Carolina. In 1872, the paper was sold again, this time to John Donald Cameron, who continued to publish the Recorder under that title until 1879, when he relocated the paper from Hillsborough to Durham and renamed it The Durham Recorder.