The Trident, 1977, vol. 4, no. 1 (May)

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PAST
PRESENT
FUTURE        OCT   81 t9Ui
Vol. 4. No. 1. May 1977.
)
The
History
Of the Nfld.
Museum
The Past —
The Present
The history of a Museum in Newfoundland began over 130 years ago in
St. John's, when a group of wealthy
merchants decided to preserve a collection of items originating from such
places as Brazil, The West Indies,
Europe, etc. Their first exhibit was called
the "Cabinet of Curiosites" and was on
Public view at the Merchant's Club on
Water Street. Alas, the date of this event
has been lost to posterity, we can only
assume that it took place in the early
1800' s. The Club soon became the
focal point for business men interested
in intellectual speculation and stimulation. Around the year 1849, the Merchants decided to form a joint committee with the Mechanic's Institute and the
St. John's Library Board. This new
Committee concerned itself with the
Natural History of the Island, they displayed in a small building such things as
mounted polar bears, native birds, and
artifacts pertaining to the Beothuck Indian era.
m,^S,A.
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The old Gosling Memorial Library, which is our museum today.
It is indeed interesting to note that this
group of people received National Acclaim by winning three prizes for an exhibit entered in the New York Exhibition
in 1855 for "its quality of artifacts." In
the late 1870's, the Museum collection
moved to a very impressive looking
building, The Anthenaeum, seat of intellectual life. (This building was sadly destroyed by the Great Fire of 1892).
About ten years later the collection was
The Athenaeum. The seat of intellectual life in the late 19th Century. The
building {which was erected on the site of our present day museum)
was sadly destroyed by the fire of 1892.
moved yet again, this time to the upper
floor of the New Post Office on Water
Street. Mr. J. P. Howley, F.G.S. was
appointed as the first Curator.
In 1907, Sir Robert Bond erected a
new building on the site of the present
museum. The collection included a full
Natural History Section but very little
else of Historical interest. It was said,
however, that 70 years ago, the Newfoundland Fossil collection was the
largest in North America.
The struggles of this ill-fated Museum
were far from over, during the Depression years of the 30's the Museum
closed by order of the Commission of
Government, to make room for a new
Government Department. From that
time onward most of the artifacts were
lost, destroyed or ruined in some way.
The Natural History Section was destroyed by fire.
After the war, public interest began to
generate toward the need to preserve
remnants of a heritage, so easily ravaged by fire or war, and the Department
of Provincial Affairs, under the newly
appointed Provincial Legislature, reestablished the museum. The perseverance of two dedicated people, Mr. Leo
English, Curator, and Mr. Adrian Digby,
a British Consultant, (who incidentally
set up the Royal Ontario Museum in
Toronto) proceeded to salvage the old
collection of artifacts, and set the stage
for the museum's completion in 1957.
Two years later a major breakthrough
occurred, the Government with Hon
Dr. G. A. Frecker, Minister of Provincial
Affairs, passed an Act relating to the
Historic Objects, Sites and Records, this
stated that "the Museum is a repository
for relics, artifacts, models, paintings
and other devices, materials, articles
and things which are of Historical
value."
The memory of that first group of
Conservation-minded individuals is still
alive tody. The Newfoundland Provincial Musuem was passed over to the
Department of Tourism's Historic Resources Division, under the Directorship
of Dr. Martin Bowe. It is presently undergoing extensive renovations, the
floor space has been expanded, with the
addition of a new floor, a theatre and
hopefully a Museum Gift Shop, selling
among many other things, hand made
Newfoundland crafts. The design section, under the watchful eye of Derm
Duggan, the Design Chief, have completed a model replica of the interior of
the Museum as it will be following the
renovations.
The imagination and artistic ability of
the Researchers and Exhibit Planners,
have tentatively formed a basic plan for
the display of the exhibits. The Main
floor will house the Natural History section, and areas have been included for
Temporary Exhibits, which will be
changed at various intervals. The Mezzanine floor will house the Archaeology
and Ethnology exhibits,  depicting
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