Faculty of Medicine Founders' Archive - News

Highlights, 2007-2008

2007 drew to an end on a high note for the Faculty of Medicine Founders' Archive (FMFA) with the official launch of the virtual exhibit, The Early Days of the Medical School at Memorial University of Newfoundland, on Oct. 22, 2007. The Early Days exhibit was a main feature of the celebration organized by the Faculty of Medicine to mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the medical school.

The Early Days exhibit includes information about the process leading to the creation of the medical school and the state of health care in Newfoundland prior to its establishment. As well, the exhibit features biographies of the early deans, a photographic history of the construction of the health sciences complex, and glimpses into student and faculty life during that time period. The history is told through photographs, newspaper articles (including 416 from the personal scrapbook of the first dean, Dr. Ian Rusted), as well as book chapters, journal articles, reports, posters and other items.

We would like to offer a special thank you to the following people for their contribution to the exhibit: HSIMS staff, including Eugene Ryan and John Crowell for the creation of the website, and Sylvia Ficken, graphic artist, for her assistance with the poster display based on the exhibit and displayed during the 40th anniversary celebrations; Kory Penney, scanning technician; Don Walsh, contentdm specialist; Janet Story, archivist, who provided descriptions to the construction photographs used in the exhibit; and Dr. Brian Payton for allowing us the use of numerous items including his poster collection created in 1983 for the medical school's 10th anniversary of the first graduating class. The Early Days of the Medical School at Memorial University of Newfoundland virtual exhibit can be visited at http://www.med.mun.ca/earlydays/.

The poster display created for the exhibit launch will be permanently displayed in the area outside of the Health Sciences Library and also in the Faculty of Medicine entrance corridor on the second floor of the Health Sciences Complex.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through Library and Archives Canada. Nous reconnaissons l'appui financier du gouvernement du Canada par l'entremise de Bibliotheque et Archives Canada.

Updates

We welcomed three new staff members: Kory Penney (Research Assistant, contractual), and who in April was hired back again as an Archival Assistant; Shaina Goudie (Archival Assistant, contractual); and Donna Norman (Library Assistant).

Kory Penney continues to digitize material but has now taken on several other archival responsibilities. Shaina Goudie completed the arrangement and description of the Dr. Henry Gault fonds and also created a finding aid using EAD (Encoded Archival Description), a tool which was recently developed at MUN for creating finding aids.

As part of our philosophy of promoting the archive collection, we will be selecting material for display throughout the year. The archive has currently created an exhibit, Dr. Cluny Macpherson Photograph Collection: The West End of St. John's, 1949, containing images and text from Dr. Macpherson's notebooks. Material from the Macpherson notebooks was digitized, mounted on display boards and put on display in a floor model display case in the medical school lobby. For more information on the Macpherson notebooks please go to Dr. Cluny Macpherson (1879-1966) Reflections of a Newfoundlander: A Virtual Exhibit, http://www.med.mun.ca/macpherson/.

The archive collection continues to grow; we recently added to our holdings material from the following: Telemedicine; Sheila Gushue (the Faculty of Medicine's first information officer); MEDICOR, Ms. Janet Story (material related to the construction of the Health Sciences Centre), and Dr. Bill Marshall (Immunology). We have also received accruals to the Dr. Desmond Robb fonds, the Dr. Brian Payton fonds, the Medical Audiovisual Videotape Collection, and the Dr. Ian Rusted fonds. All of these materials have been processed and will be arranged and described in the future.

Next year is a milestone for the archive, which will celebrate its 10th Anniversary.

Archived News items

News 2005


	Faculty of Medicine Founders' Archive Health Sciences Library Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, NL Canada A1B 3V6 Telephone: 709-777-6208 Fax: (709) 777-6866 Email: Founders' Archive

October 7, 2008
Stephanie Harlick