St. Petersburg Times index archive

Google has made great progress on digitizing microfilm issues of newspapers, such as the St. Petersburg Times and St. Petersburg Evening Independent.

You can access a search portal at:

http://news.google.com/archivesearch/advanced_search?hl=en

In the source box, just enter the name of the newspaper (i.e., “St. Petersburg Times” or “Evening Independent”). You will get a search results screen.

It’s not perfect: There are still gaps and the software they have used to scan entries has not been proofed in its entirety. For example, the scan might think it sees “081tuary “instead of “obituary.” You cannot save images (unless you’re a little crafty with Firefox and are willing to save in many small pieces), and this does not mean we should cancel our microfilm for the Times, but it is a nice alternative source that (as of now, at least) is free.

Evening Independent

We often get asked whether we have microform copies of the Evening Independent newspaper and it isn't easy to be sure that you have checked all angles on the OPAC. When asked about this, Jim responded: "We do not own the St. Petersburg Evening Independent, an afternoon paper that ceased publication in 1986. The St. Petersburg Public Library's main branch (9th and 37th St.) does have the Independent. " The cost of purchasing the microfilm is prohibitive.