Introduction—Case by Case: Private and Public Representations of Patients in the Grenfell Mission in Newfoundland and Labrador in the Early 20th Century

Abstract

This article provides context for three studies about early 20th-century medical cases in the geographically distributed humanitarian aid organization founded by Wilfred Grenfell in pre-Confederation Newfoundland and Labrador. It situates these studies within historiographical and theoretical approaches to case histories and their publication by medical practitioners, the background for research on the clinical records of the Grenfell organization’s main hospital, and the history behind specific case information for coastal patients. While the cases examined cohere through their organizational origin, the authors of these three studies reveal sometimes unexpected representations of the patient in text and illustration. In these ways, both this introductory article and the following three studies emphasize the enduring appeal of narrative approaches to case writing while also pointing to the evolving ethics of publishing medical reports for general readers and scholars. Together they invite renewed attention to the representation of medical cases in publications that increasingly are available globally in internet collections.