A bridge built halfway : a history of Memorial University College, 1925-1950

From 1925 until shortly after Newfoundland's entry into Confederation, Memorial University College, the forerunner of Memorial University of Newfoundland, set down roots as a new national institution amid the discouragements of adverse economic conditions during the 1930s and the upheavals and dislocations of the Second World War. Malcolm MacLeod begins his history of Memorial University College by describing the forces that promoted the creation of Newfoundland's own higher-education institution and the conditions that frustrated its advancement, such as the uneasy development of educational co-operation between religious denominations. MacLeod goes on to analyse different aspects of institutional life to 1950, such as the institution's governance and patterns of staffing, the students' social backgrounds, and the college's curriculum. He also outlines Memorial's links with other aspects of society and provides the historical and social framework for its development, leading us through the optimism of the twenties and the depression of the thirties to the abandonment of self-government and the overwhelming changes that came with and after the war. He concludes by contrasting Memorial's slow and uncertain progress before 1950 with its achievements since, and by placing Memorial in the context of the development of higher education in Canada and the modernization of Newfoundland. Contents Tables Preface Illustrations 1 NEWFOUNDLAND AND HIGHER EDUCATION, 1890–1925 2 A STUDENT PROFILE 3 STUDIES 4 STAFFING 5 COLLEGE LIFE 6 SPIRIT 7 THE SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUND, 1925–50 8 GOWN AND TOWN(s): NEWFOUNDLAND, ST JOHN'S, CANADA, AND MEMORIAL COLLEGE 9 GOVERNANCE 10 AFFILIATIONS AT HOME AND ABROAD 1 1 AFTER MUC 12 AN OVERVIEW — PAST AND PRESENT Appendixes Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y