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  • International Convention at Quebec 1864

  • Canadian Newfoundland Delegation 1895

  • National Convention Delegate The Rooms A 138-38;

  • Newfoundland Delegation to Ottawa The Rooms B 22-52

  • The delegation which negotiated Newfoundland's entry into Confederation

  • Signing of the Terms of Union Between Canada and Newfoundland, 11 December 1948. Courtesy National Archives of Canada (PA-128072)

  • Prime Minster Louis St-Laurent strikes the first line of Newfoundland's Coat-of-Arms in the archway of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill on April 1, 1949. (CP)

  • First Provincial Cabinet The Rooms B 22-50

  • Carrying the first post-confederation Speech from the Throne to Government House from House of Assembly The Rooms A 2-114


Founded in 1905, the Newfoundland & Labrador Historical Society is the oldest non-profit, independent heritage organization in the province.

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All lectures will be held at The Bruneau Centre Lecture Hall at Memorial University and will start at 7:30 pm NST.
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Press Gallery

Annual Gilbert Higgins Lecture-The Forgotten History of the Newfoundland and Labrador Press Gallery Association

Michael Connors

November 28, 2024

Since 1833, journalists have covered the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature through a little-understood institution known as the Press Gallery. In 1969, they created a self-governing association to manage the workspace, but there was little consensus about how much authority that association should have. In his talk, journalist Michael Connors will discuss his book, Admit Strangers,… Read More


Celebrating the Everyday (1)

Celebrating the Everyday: Letters to Smallwood 1948-1950

Dr. Vicki Hallett, Dr. Sonja Boon, and Ms. Patricia Way

October 24, 2024

  In these letters we get a taste of what life was like for people at that time, and how they were engaging with Smallwood directly as political agents. We want to celebrate this political legacy, which encourages all of us to think about how we understand the Confederation debates and eventual outcome, and what… Read More


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52-48: Seventy-Five Years of Confederation, its Impact, and its Legacy

Dr. Raymond Blake and Dr. Jeff Webb

September 28, 2024

Please join us the Mockbeggar Plantation Provincial Historic Site in Bonavista – the home of confederation advocate and Newfoundland politician F. Gordon Bradley – for a joint talk by Newfoundland and Labrador historians Dr. Raymond Blake and Dr. Jeff Webb on the history of the politics of confederation to be followed by an open discussion… Read More


Will Confederation Carry the Day

Will Confederation Carry the Day: Newfoundland and Union with Canada

Dr. Raymond Blake

September 27, 2024

This presentation considers Confederation more broadly than just an issue from the 1940s. Through the long debates on union with Canada, Newfoundlanders made informed, though certainly personal and self-interested decisions on their relationship with Canada and on Confederation. Newfoundland voters were not ill-informed, not easily swayed by prejudice and hysteria nor by the emotional appeal… Read More


The People Decided

The People Decided: Newfoundland and Confederation, 1948

Dr. Raymond Blake

September 26, 2024

This lecture shows how Newfoundlanders and Labradorians made an informed and rational decision in 1948 to join Canada. It argues that the people and the nation itself had changed considerably since 1869 when it had rejected union with Canada. Immediately after the end of the Second World War, voters in the old colony looked to… Read More