Just a few weeks before the first classes at USF “Bay Campus,” James Anthony Schnur, 50, was
born at a hospital three blocks away.
For 13 years Schnur has been the special collections librarian at the Nelson Poynter Memorial
Library, but he has been at USF St. Petersburg for much longer.
“What started out as a historical coincidence seems very fateful today,” said Schnur.
He grew up in Redington Beach, graduated from Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport and went
on to earn an A.A. in history at the University of Tampa.
“I was more of a Viking historian,” said Schnur, whose history classes were mainly on medieval
Europe.
At first, Schnur pursued a bachelor’s in education at USF Tampa, but later decided to study
history at the St. Petersburg campus in 1986.
“I enjoyed the smaller classes and dedicated faculty at the time,” he said. “The campus was
really tailored for people like me.”
After working with history professor Gary Mormino in writing two awardwinning historical
essays on former Florida Gov. LeRoy Collins and a witchhunt group called the Johns
Committee, Schnur was inspired to take up Florida studies.
“He was such a focused and likable student,” said Mormino, 68. “He exemplifies the best in
scholarship research here.”
Schnur graduated in 1989 and later went for a master’s in history and library science in the early
’90s while he worked as a graduate student assistant for the Nelson Poynter Library.
He participated in historical works during his student years such as restoring the Snell and
Williams houses in the mid’90s.
“There is much rich history for a very small area,” Schnur said.
In 1996, Schnur married his wife Phuongdung on campus in front of Davis Hall, room 130, and
in 2002, Schnur joined the USFSP faculty as the special collections librarian where his still
works today.
Schnur preserves and provides USFSP history, along with the St. Petersburg community, through
archival collections of historical artifacts.
He has also helped create the library’s digital archives and exhibits on historical periods such as
World War II and has published five books on Pinellas County history.
“I want readers to understand Florida more vividly without watereddown academic talk,” he
said.
Schnur considers teaching students his best achievement. He assists graduate students in the
USFSP Florida Studies program and teaches parttime at the USF Tampa School of Information
on archival management. He also serves as an adjunct history instructor at Eckerd College.
“One of the things I appreciate the greatest is being here today to support the academic needs of
our current students,” he said.
USFSP has become a home to Schnur and he looks forward the days to come.
“It never gets boring here,” he said, “and if it does, I need to take a little vacation to clean the
dust out of my ears.”
