The New York Times has finally figured out that it’s in their best interest to make their newspaper articles available to the public. As of a week or two ago, they’re no longer charging a fee for their “premium” content. Now anyone can read columnists such as Paul Krugman online without having to subscribe.

They’ve opened up their archive, too. Jason Kottke put together a nice little list of some Gems from the archive of the New York Times, including a front-page report of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and a report on the confirmation of Einstein’s theory of gravity in 1919. Enjoy!