The Amulree Commission Report (1933) and Newfoundland Public Libraries

Newfoundland Royal Commission 1933: Report. William Warrender Mackenzie, 1st Baron Amulree, chair. London. H.M.S.O., 1933. vi, 283 p., maps.

The Newfoundland Royal Commission, 1933

Important advances were made in Canada in the 1930s by the provision of Carnegie grants for public library development in British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. However, in Newfoundland library development was sparked by economic hardship and an entirely different investigative process. At the beginning of 1900, Newfoundland remained a Crown Colony of the British Empire and did not achieve the status of a self-governing Dominion until 1907. The capital, St. John's, had the misfortune of seeing its Carnegie promise of $50,000 for a free public library, made in June 1901, lapse despite the best efforts of a prominent judge, Daniel W. Prowse, who successfully lobbied for passage of a Public Libraries Act in 1902 (2 Edw. VII c.20). Although a city library board was established, early efforts to erect a building were not realized due to problems related to housing a museum and municipal offices.

Municipal library promotion was neglected for a time although enabling legislation continued in force. Eventually, debts stemming from the First World War and the onset of economic turmoil after 1929 led to increasingly unstable political conditions in Newfoundland. In the midst of a bleak depression, the Newfoundland government requested loans from Great Britain to alleviate its dire financial state and in the process suspended its own self-governance at the end of 1933. The British government established a Royal Commission to examine the future of Newfoundland and make recommendations on the island's finances, fisheries, and political status. It marked the end of almost eighty years of ‘responsible government,’ and for the next fifteen years (1934–1949) Newfoundland and Labrador would continue to be administered by an appointed Governor and the unelected Commission.

The Commission was chaired by Lord Amulree, William Warrender Mackenzie, 1st Baron Amulree, who conducted an extensive survey of Newfoundland's political, economic, and social conditions with a few colleagues during the first six months of 1933. One feature of the Commission report, seldom commented on by library historians in Canadian studies, was the observations and suggestions about the island's libraries. In a chapter on subsidiary considerations, the Commission reported:

We were much surprised, on our arrival at St. John's, to find that there was no public library in the capital. The need for such a library need not be stressed. The provision of a public library is wholly beyond the immediate resources of the Government, nor could we expect that an appeal for subscriptions for this purpose could be launched with success at the present time. (para. 628)

Of course, by ‘public library’ the commissioners meant a tax-supported library freely open to the public. Subscription libraries, mechanics' institutes, and rental libraries had long been the mainstay of library provision on the island since the early 19th century. In its concluding library section, the Amulree Report recommended that "We understand that arrangements are in view for the establishment of a public library in St. John’s. We think it is important that public libraries should be established in the larger out ports as opportunity offers and that steps should be taken to extend and improve the recently instituted service of travelling subscription libraries." (para. 629) The report recognized that a public library for residents in St. John's was necessary, as well as service to rural and remote communities.

Grenfell Mission library, St. Anthony, c. 1916

A decade before, in 1926, the Carnegie Corporation of New York had provided $5,000 at the request of the Newfoundland Bureau of Education to establish a remote travelling library service. Memorial University College administered the grant, and requests for deliveries were shipped to schools and outport communities reached by coastal vessels; however, the service languished at the outset of the Great Depression after the Carnegie financing was expended.

More dependable long-term support came from the Grenfell Mission in Newfoundland and Labrador, which distributed books to coastal communities for decades as part of its medical and social services. Sir Wilfred Grenfell (1865–1940) was a remarkable British medical missionary who dedicated most of his life to the provision of health-care services and social assistance in northern Newfoundland and Labrador. His Mission first established a working library in a schoolhouse on the northern peninsula at St. Anthony in 1914 with the aid of trained American librarians. It was a community effort: books were lent, clubs were formed, and story times held. In the 1930s, the library was relocated to an older building where it continued to serve as a community centre for adults and children by offering a space for meetings and table games for children.

Newfoundland Public Library Service Begins

Comments on libraries in the Amulree Report spurred immediate action in St. John's. A few citizens, led by the Commissioner for Public Utilities, Thomas Lodge, formed a committee in 1934 to begin planning for the establishment of a city public library. By January 22, 1935, a Public Libraries Act was passed allowing the Public Libraries Board to establish libraries and services, in effect creating a system similar to the emerging regional library systems already demonstrated in British Columbia and underway in Prince Edward Island. The fourth section of the new Act stated: “It shall be the duty of the Board to establish, conduct and maintain a public libraries or libraries in St. John’s and in other places in Newfoundland as the Board may deem expedient and to establish and maintain travelling or circulating libraries if the Board shall deem it expedient.” Further, section 6 of the Act permitted the Board to receive gifts or bequests of money and books, furniture and other things suitable for its purposes, and section 7 allowed the charging and collecting of fees “for the use of its libraries or of any of its facilities.” The Board reported to the Commissioner of Public Utilities and Harold Newell was appointed chief librarian.

The St. John’s Gosling Memorial Library (named for William Gilbert Gosling, a popular mayor from 1916–20) opened on 9 January 1936. It was initially housed on the top floor of the Newfoundland Museum building on Duckworth Street, which had been the original home of St. John's Athenaeum until 1898. The Gosling Library was the beginning of an expansion of public library service across Newfoundland and Labrador in the ensuing decades. At this time, the concept of regional libraries was being developed for the entire island. According to Jesse Mifflen, in the 1930s, “it referred to all libraries set up in relatively large towns; libraries were supposed to serve not only the town itself but schools and groups in neighbouring communities, and also to provide some of the bookstock for any small libraries situated in the area, and which were known as Branch Libraries.” There was no formal demarcation of regions within Newfoundland at this time.

Gosling Library staff, c. 1944

With the Gosling Library serving as a central resource, the Public Libraries Board, headed by Dr. A.C. Hunter, and through the work of its Outport Library Committee, eventually established a regional plan to provide library services to communities with a minimum population of 1,000 people to serve people in its jurisdiction. This plan was approved in 1942 by the British appointed Commission, which was assisted helped by another timely grant of $10,000 in 1940 from the Carnegie Corporation to purchase books. This scheme proved to be successful and included larger towns such as Corner Brook. All this progress can be traced back to the Amulree Report, the beneficence of the Carnegie Corporation, and the dedicated work of local citizens.

The Amulree Report was a crucial catalyst for improved public library services. Although it gave only fleeting reference to libraries and was not similar to the typical Canadian library survey or report on the development of services in the 1930s, its impact was evident. As a result, the Commission style government era was a key incubation period for the public library system before Newfoundland became a Canadian province in 1949.

Further reading:

Jesse Mifflen, The Development of Public Library Services in Newfoundland, 1934-1972. Halifax: Dalhousie University Libraries and School of Library Service, 1978.

The entire Amulree Report is available at the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage website -- The Newfoundland Royal Commission, 1933 as a PDF.

An Act to Create a Public Libraries Board approved on 22 January 1935 is available at the Memorial University Digital Archive (commencing at original page 28).

The documentation for the lapsed Carnegie promise of $50,000 to St. John's in 1901 is at this link.

An article by Jennifer J. Connor documenting the Grenfell Mission's provision of reading material to coastal communities is at this link.

My blog on the regional studies of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in the 1930s is at this link. 

This blog was revised with updated information and links on November 6, 2025