The International Grenfell Association used many different media to document its work in creating infrastructure along the coast of Northern Labrador. These two images are from a 1920s collection of magic lantern slides, and were used by Grenfell during fundraising lectures in Canada and the United States. The slides were intended to illustrate the needs of the region and the work of the Association. Photo Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador
Slow Disturbance: Infrastructural Mediation on the Settler Colonial Resource Frontier
Duke University Press, 2021
REVIEW Lola Sheppard and Mason White
At the end of the 19th century, off the rugged coast of Northern Labrador, a remarkable enterprise took place: an extensive network of health outposts, cooperative stores, and local industries was established to service the fisherfolk who settled and worked in these remote villages. The author of this expansive vision was Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, a British medical doctor, social reformer, author and entrepreneur. Grenfell first travelled along the coast of northern Newfoundland and Labrador in 1892, aboard a medical ship delivering urgently needed health services to isolated fishing settlements. Shocked by the lack of medical care for the settler fishing communities, he expanded the mission to establishing health outposts that were supported by numerous volunteer doctors and nurses. This eventually led to his creation of the International Grenfell Association (IGA) in 1914, whic...