The originator of the Encyclopedia, Mr. Joseph R. Smallwood, remarked that it was to be a complete record.
Every theme belongs in the Encyclopedia.
Every person, every event, every location, every institution, every development, every industry, every intellectual activity, every religious movement in Newfoundland belongs in there. In 1981 he published volume one of the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador. During the same year Memorial University established the J. R. Smallwood Centre for Newfoundland Studies when Mr. Smallwood committed his papers, his Newfoundland library, and his rich and varied collection of Newfoundlandia to the Centre. Two months after volume two was published in 1984, when Mr. Smallwood had begun the editing of volume three, he suffered a sudden and drastic stroke, which jeopardized completion of the Encyclopedia. In 1987, the Joseph R. Smallwood Heritage Foundation was established.