THE KEYS CITIZEN DONATES ITS ARCHIVE TO THE MONROE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM’S FLORIDA KEYS HISTORY CENTER

The Keys Citizen donated large, bound volumes of its Key West Citizen and Florida Keys Keynoter archive to the Monroe County Public Library’s Florida Keys History Center (FKHC). The original newspapers date back to the 1920s. Due to downsizing, the Citizen could no longer store the papers. This was a result of a longstanding partnership between the Citizen and the library system to acquire these documents.


On Thursday, Monroe County Facilities Maintenance safely transported the collection to an offsite, climate-controlled facility until room can be made at the Key West library.


“This is a bedrock collection,” said Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian for the FKHC. “It is the single richest source concerning modern Keys history there is.”  


The FKHC has a comprehensive index of the newspaper and has the archives scanned onto microfilm, which will remain the primary means of accessing the back issues of the newspapers. But microfilm is nowhere near as good, especially for photographs. Once information is pinpointed in the microfilm, the original paper can be used for the best available copy.  


“We are thrilled to add these documents to the Monroe County archive. People will be using them to understand Keys history for generations to come,” Malcom said. 
​

The FKHC produces the “Today In Keys History” column that runs daily in the Citizen and is also available online at the library website keyslibraries.org and on Facebook at fb.com/keyshistory. More than 23,000 historical images can also be found at bit.ly/keyspix.