Newfoundland & Labrador Pharmacy Museum
488 Water Street A1E 1B3 St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, NL, Canada

This November, we’d like to share some of our favourite tea recipes for you to brew up at home! Plants and herbs have a long history in traditional medicine and have been a key feature in pharmacy practice. The growing popularity of artisanal teas has sparked a renewed interest in the healing properties of plants. So, to celebrate this tradition, each week’s recipe will feature a specific medicinal plant with examples from our collection. We’ll delve into each of their medici...nal uses. Of course, tea will never replace a visit to your doctor, but sometimes for a headache or sore throat, a nice warm cup goes a long way! Ever had a headache that’s not bad enough to reach for the Aspirin but that you just can’t seem to shake? That’s why we’re looking at headaches for week 3 of #LetsTalkTea. Pain relief is one of the many medicinal uses of lavender, which makes it a good option for treating a headache. Lemon balm is another great herbal remedy for relieving the pain and irritation a headache can bring on. This super easy tea recipe uses both lavender, fennel and lemon balm so you can find soothing relief. https://www.pinterest.ca//2295429122440495/visual-search/ We have a few lavender artifacts in our collection to share with you, like this large shop bottle that was used to store bulk quantities of lavender oil. The oil would have been portioned out and sold in small individual bottles, like the one shown here from O’Mara’s Drug Store at Rawlin's Cross. The pharmacist would have prepared and labeled the bottle himself. If you don’t have any lemon balm, fennel, or lavender on hand we recommend online herbal retailers like alpineherb.ca. And for a store-bought option, brands like Veda Wellness Teas Chamomile Comfort with lavender make a great alternative. If you’d like to try your hand at starting your own medicinal herb garden, we have a variety of seeds for sale on our website including both lavender and lemon balm. These are available on our Square Store and can be shipped right to your door. https://nl-pharmacy-museum.square.site//medicinal-flow/11

This week’s #MoreThanMedicineMonday is coming up roses, or at least it’ll smell like it. We’re looking at perfume, specifically the interesting history of this little green bottle from The Crown Perfumery Company. Although scented products have been used for thousands of years, the modern perfume industry began in the late 19th century. It’s at this time when the story of our green bottle begins. The Crown Perfumery Company was founded by William Sparks Thomson, an American b...usinessman who had previously specialized in making corsets and crinolines for wealthy ladies. One particularly high-profile customer of his was Queen Victoria herself. Thomson noticed a persistent problem in his business: ladies were fainting far too frequently when being fitted for corsets. To solve this issue, he developed his own brand of smelling salts scented with lavender. This proved to be a hit and his new business venture was born. He founded the Crown Perfumery Company in 1872 and got permission from his old client the Queen to use the image of her crown in his advertising. Crown perfumes gained a reputation as high-quality and luxurious products, and were sought after by the wealthy elite worldwide. There are records showing that first class passengers on the Titanic had Crown perfume onboard with them, and Amelia Earhart took the lavender smelling salts with her on her 1932 flight across the Atlantic. The company stopped making their products in 1937, but the brand was bought in 1999 by Clive Christian who continues to make fragrances inspired by the original Crown Perfumery. So if you’ve got the means and are looking for a whiff of history, you might be able to get a crown-stoppered bottle of your very own!

We're putting together a new museum display AND an online exhibit all about COD LIVER OIL! And we want YOUR help! Do you have (not so) fond memories of taking cod liver oil as a child? Did you line up for a spoonful at school? Did your parents have a barrel of it outside your house? We want to know! Write down or record your story (video or audio files) and email us at [email protected] for a chance to be featured in our online exhibit!

We would like to thank our two Canada (not) Summer Jobs employees for 8 wonderful weeks of hard work here at the museum. It's always a fantastic opportunity to give someone a chance to dive into museum work and to foster and encourage a love of history and culture. Many thanks to Brittany who got down and dirty in our collections storage to help catalogue hundreds of artifacts. She was also responsible for our #ThrowbackThursday social media posts and helped create our upcom...ing Cod Liver Oil display in the museum which I hope you will all be able to enjoy in-person next year! Many thanks as well to Liam who helped to brainstorm new and interesting online exhibits and programs including our Top Ten Tour (which can be found on our website) and our Let's Talk Tea online program (Week 3 coming next Tuesday). He also helped research and create the online component of our Cod Liver Oil exhibit which will be launching sometime in the next few weeks! It has been an honour to work with these two amazing people and we can't wait to see where their careers take them next.

Happy #throwbackthursday! Today we’re remembering the humble beginnings of Colgate toothpaste, with help from this artifact housed here in the museum, circa 1953. The Colgate brand was founded by William Colgate in New York City in 1806, originally to produce soap and candles. However, the business expanded in 1873, when the first Colgate toothpaste product was introduced to the market. Known as Colgate Ribbon Dental Cream, the paste was initially sold in glass jars, until co...llapsible tubes such as this one were introduced in 1896. Although toothpaste would eventually include different ingredients that enhanced mouth health, this vintage product was simply supposed to clean and whiten your teeth. Today, Colgate is still a hugely popular company, being the only brand in the world that is purchased by more than half of all households! (Picture credit: walmart.ca)

Let’s Talk Tea Week 2 This November, we’d like to share some of our favourite tea recipes for you to brew up at home! Plants and herbs have a long history in traditional medicine and have been a key feature in pharmacy practice. The growing popularity of artisanal teas has sparked a renewed interest in the healing properties of plants. So, to celebrate this tradition, each week’s recipe will feature a specific medicinal plant with examples from our collection. We’ll delve int...o each of their medicinal uses. Of course, tea will never replace a visit to your doctor, but sometimes for a headache or sore throat, a nice warm cup goes a long way! For week 2 of #LetsTalkTea we’re looking at sleep and relaxation. Lemon balm is great for relieving stress and anxiety, and chamomile and valerian are both commonly used to help with sleep. If you’re having trouble winding down after a hectic day or you struggle to nod off at night, we’ve found a great bedtime tea that you can brew up. Don’t worry if you don’t have passionflower or catnip on hand, the chamomile, valerian, and lemon balm matter the most! https://blog.craneandcanopy.com//how-to-make-and-brew-your We have shop bottles at the museum which held valerian, as well as a drawer in our oak cabinets which has a label for chamomile flowers. These medicinal plants are as useful in pharmaceutical mixtures as they are for a bedtime brew. We recommend online retailers like alpineherb.ca as a great resource if you’re looking to get your hands on any of the herbs in the recipe you’re missing. There are also some awesome store-bought blends if your busy schedule doesn’t leave time for making a tea from scratch. Mother’s Little Helper from David’s Tea has both valerian root and chamomile and would make a great alternative. And for the green thumbs out there, we have valerian, chamomile, and lemon balm seeds for sale in the museum gift shop. These can be purchased via our Square Store and shipped straight to you so you can start growing herbs for you very own apothecary! https://nl-pharmacy-museum.square.site//medicinal-flow/11