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A.H. Murray & Company Limited, St. John's, was a leading Newfoundland mercantile firm for most of the twentieth century. The company engaged in the general supply trade of the inshore and Labrador cod fisheries. The company was also involved in exporting and importing, the offshore sealing industry, shipping, as well as a dealer in marine engines. In more recent times, the company has been strongly associated with building supplies.

James Murray (1864), a Scottish emigrant and member of the House of Assembly (MHA), immigrated to St. John's in the 1830s. A broker, his first venture was in making hard bread (or sea biscuit), but by 1845 he was also involved in more general trading in the cod fisheries and sealing. This trade expanded under the direction of his son, James Murray Jr. (1843-1900). He went bankrupt following the loss of his company's assets and records in the Great Fire of 1892.

In 1918, Andrew H. Murray (1879-1965) and his brother David (ca. 1877-1971) re-established the family business and incorporated it as A.H. Murray & Co. Ltd. A.H. (Bill) Crosbie, Murray's son-in-law, and the youngest son of Sir John Crosbie, joined the company in 1952. When A.H. Murray died in 1965, Crosbie became managing director. On 1 January 1979, A.H. Murray & Co. Ltd. restructured and amalgamated its subsidiary companies - Murray & Co. (St. Anthony) Ltd. and Murray Agencies and Transport Co. Ltd. - as Murray Industrial Ltd.

Over the years A.H. Murray formed a number of subsidiary shipping companies. These included Newfoundland Shipping Company Ltd. (1911-25), Annzac Steamships Company Limited (1916-23), Baccalieu Shipping Company Ltd.(1917-22), and Salmonier Shipping Company Ltd.(1947-62). Other enterprises with which the company was involved included: Salt Importers Association (1940-66), Newfoundland Coal Company (1948-63), Blu-Flame Gas Company Ltd., (1963), Newfoundland Agency Ltd., and Colonial Cordage Company (1959-62).

St. John's Art Club was founded in 1940, under the name Art Students Club, by Mrs. A.C. (Muriel) Hunter. Its mandate was to promote local artists and their art. Activities included exhibitions of local and imported art, sketching and art discussion groups, sponsorship of local art students, the maintenance of a member-borrowing library of art books, and illustrated lectures. One exhibition featured 73 painting by U.S. servicemen stationed in Newfoundland.

The Club's name was changed in 1945 to St. John's Art Club. In 1950, the group presented recommendations to a Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences (Massey Commission). The last general meeting was held in 1973; in 1976, the Executive voted to close the Club bank account and donate the balance to the A.C. Hunter scholarship.

The Church of England Women’s Association (C.E.W.A.) was founded in 1876 at Heart’s Content. The C.E.W.A. promoted Christian unity and fellowship at home and overseas. A branch of the C.E.W.A .was established at Ireland’s Eye in 1905. On October 4th, 41 ladies from the congregation attended the first meeting, which was addressed by Mrs. Hollands, wife of the Rector of the Parish. All present voted in favour of establishing St. Faith’s branch.

The Association met once a week to work at sewing, knitting, embroidery etc. They held regular sales of work, and the proceeds were donated to various charities at home and abroad, and contributions were made to the rector’s stipend and church funds. The Association made a substantial contribution to the new Church of St. George’s built in 1927.

The final meeting of St. Faith’s was held on August 28 1965.

In 1855 the Newfoundland District of the British Wesleyan Methodist Conference was joined with the districts of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Bermuda and Newfoundland form the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of Eastern British America, retaining in this restructuring their affiliation with the British Wesleyan Methodist Conference. In 1874 the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Eastern British America joined with the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of Canada and the New Connexion Methodist Church of Canada to form the Methodist Church of Canada. The Methodist Church of Canada then became a free-standing body and its direct connection to the British Wesleyan Methodist Conference was severed. The old Newfoundland District became a Conference of the new organisation. For a discussion of the history of the various Methodist bodies in Canada see Neil Semple, The Lord’s Dominion (Montreal, 1996). For a detailed history of the Methodist Church of Canada in Newfoundland and Labrador see D.W. Johnson, Methodism in Eastern British America (Sackville, N.B., 1924).

The Health Sciences Library (HSL), originally called the Faculty of Medicine Library, was an integral component of the medical school at Memorial University of Newfoundland. It was set up initially in a small room in the Temporary Buildings on the Memorial University of Newfoundland campus. June Leath Huntley, consultant in residence, and Dr. K. B. Roberts, associate dean of medicine and head of physiology, were instrumental in the development of the library, ensuring that it met standards that led to its official recognition as a medical library in 1969. In 1971 the library was renamed Medical Library and moved to a space between Temporary Buildings 7 and 9.

There were several developments in the Medical Library in 1972. Richard Fredericksen was appointed as its first medical librarian. In January, the library published the first issue of the Faculty of Medicine Library Newsletter. Also in that month, the library began sending unbound journals to the bindery. The library was remodeled, and staffing increased to three professional and seven technical support staff positions.

In 1973, the Library Affairs Committee and the Faculty Council approved the medical librarian’s recommendation to change from the Library of Congress classification system to the National Library of Medicine system, which provided more categories, had a more logical arrangement, and was revised more frequently. In August, the library announced the establishment of MEDLINE (a computerized bibliographic retrieval system providing on-line access to citations contained in more than 1000 of the world’s biomedical serial titles), which had just become operational in mid June.

The library experienced a monumental change in 1975 when it moved from the main campus into its present location on the ground floor of the newly constructed Health Sciences Centre. The move took place during the week of February 3 and by Monday, February 10, the library opened in its new setting. The library originally had seating for 180 patrons and stacking for 60,000 volumes, which eventually expanded to accommodation for 395 patrons and 135,000 volumes. The library also acquired a core collection of dental material to support dentists practising in the province. On a less positive note the library also experienced its first flood on April 17 of that year and required 87 man hours to restore order to the chaos that ensued. By June 1975 the library’s collection had grown from 14,000 volumes to approximately 20,000. The staff had increased to one position in Administration, seven positions in Public Services, eleven positions in Technical Services, and 21 part-time staff.

The Medical Library increased its mandate when it assumed responsibility for library services to Memorial University School of Nursing in 1977. That summer, books and journals relating to nursing were moved from the main university library (named Henrietta Harvey Library in 1970, renamed Queen Elizabeth II Library in 1982), to the Medical Library. The Medical Library’s collection increased again that year when the General Hospital Medical Library moved its holdings to the library. Shortly after these changes the title Medical Library was replaced with Health Sciences Library in recognition of the library’s expanded role in providing library services to a broad range of health sciences disciplines. In keeping with the new library name, Mr. Fredericksen’s title was changed from medical librarian to health sciences librarian.

Meanwhile, Dr. K. B. Roberts had resigned as assistant dean of Basic Medical Sciences in 1974 in order to concentrate on the acquisition of a special history of medicine collection for the Faculty of Medicine. In October 1978, he was appointed the first John Clinch History of Medicine Professor. On Sept. 15, 1979, the Historical Collection Room of the Health Sciences Library was officially opened. The collection contained over 100 books and items about the history of medical science and practice, nursing and community health with special emphasis placed on the history of medicine in this province. In 1986, Shelagh Wotherspoon, head, Public Services, Health Sciences Library, and Isabel Hunter (former health sciences librarian), published, “A Bibliography of Health Care in Newfoundland,” Occasional Papers in Medical History: number six, editor: Dr. K. B. Roberts.

The position of head librarian has been filled by a number of librarians since 1972. The first head librarian, Mr. Fredericksen, resigned from his position as health sciences librarian on June 30, 1978. The position was temporarily filled by Ms. Catherine Sheehan until she was succeeded by Ms. Isabel Hunter in January 1979. Ms. Hunter spent five years as head of the Health Sciences Library before resigning on March 31, 1984. Ms. Shelagh Wotherspoon was appointed acting head of the library, effective April 1, 1984, while a search ensued to fill the position on a permanent basis. Ms. Catherine Quinlan was appointed as the new health sciences librarian on Jan. 15, 1985 and served for five years before she resigned on Aug. 31, 1990. At that time Ms. Linda Barnett was appointed Acting Health Sciences Librarian until Aug. 1, 1991, when the present head, Mr. George Beckett was appointed as the new health sciences librarian. Mr. Beckett has led the library though enormous changes over the past 16 years.

Under the guidance of its respective head librarians the library continued to expand and implement technology wherever it was beneficial. When the School of Pharmacy opened at Memorial in the Fall of 1986, the pharmacy programme of the College of Trades and Technology was phased out and its library pharmacy collection was transferred to the Health Sciences Library.

The years 1988-1989 encompassed great changes in renovations and computerization of the catalogue. On March 20, 1989, the library moved forward with its on-line catalogue allowing patrons to search the library’s entire holdings at micro workstations in the library. Ten years later, the Faculty of Medicine Founders’ Archive was established as a division of the library and was officially opened in 2000.

Today, the Health Sciences Library collection includes material on medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry and allied health. In the health and allied disciplines, there are approximately 40,000 books (paper format); 20,000 electronic texts; 8,000 electronic journals; 350 current journals (paper format); and 1,800 audio-visual items. The library also provides access to approximately 30,000 non-health electronic journals and 220,000 electronic texts that are accessible through general Memorial University agreements. Currently, the library has a complement of seven librarians, a secretary, an administrative staff specialist II, a computer support person, an archivist, ten library assistants and one archival assistant (levels LA III to LA VIII), contractual employees, student assistants and MUCEP students.

In addition to students, staff and faculty in the Memorial University health sciences disciplines of medicine, nursing and pharmacy, the Health Sciences Library also acts as a resource centre for Eastern Health (Health Sciences Centre). The library also serves all health practitioners in the province with electronic resources provided through the Newfoundland and Labrador Health Knowledge Information Network (NLHKIN). The library is now preparing for a major change as the majority of its information resources are converted from paper to electronic format.

Located on the first floor of the Health Sciences Centre, the library provides services for many groups. They include: Faculty of Medicine, School of Nursing and School of Pharmacy (Memorial University of Newfoundland); General Hospital, Janeway Children’s Centre and Rehabilitation Centre (Health Care Corporation of St. John’s); Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Centre (Newfoundland Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation); and in addition, the library is a resource centre for all health practitioners in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Britannia pastoral charge includes communities of Aspen Brook, Snooks Harbour, Elliott's Cove and Weymouth. It was first mentioned in the writings of Rev. T.W. Atkinson in 1876 when he reported that he had preached at the new church at Britannia Cove. For a number of years Britannia land Foster's Point were combined to form the Britannia and Foster's Point pastoral charge.

In 1902, a new church was dedicated at Britannia Cove and in 1911 a new church was opened at Foster's Point. Boundary changes within the pastoral charges over the years had many small communities popping in and out of the Britannia pastoral charge . The Minutes of 1920 stated that Britannia was to include all placed on Random South that wasn't included in the Shoal Harbour Mission. These communities included Britannia, Foster's Point, Hickman's Harbour and Lady Cove.

At the time of the union of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches to form the United Church of Canada in 1925, Britannia was still connected with Foster's Point and the charge had a membership of 184 families with seven preaching points. By 1935, Britannia was a entity onto itself and the minister was administering to six preaching places.

In recent years some churches on Upper Random Island were beginning to need costly repairs, some congregations were growing smaller and it was becoming harder and harder to keep all churches open. Transportation was now no longer a problem so the idea of uniting congregations began.

In 1986 a survey was made among the congregations, and, after much consideration and soul searching, the communities of Aspen Brook, Snooks Harbour, Elliott's Cove and Weybridge decided to unite, to form one congregation, and build a new church, centrally located.

The closing of the four churches brought sadness to many people, but it was with joy and much pride they attended the official opening and dedication of Central United on June 25, 1989. With the new church have come many wonderful things: a growing Sunday School, an active U.C.W., a choir, and good attendance at every service. By the side of the Central is a platform where rests four bells, a testimony to the four small churches whose congregations have become one to worship God and grow in fellowship together.