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The article discusses the development of medical autobiography--the life writings of physicians and allied health workers--in Newfoundland and Labrador in the 20th century, with attention to the influence on the genre of medical missionary Wilfred Thomason Grenfell (1865-1940) and the local print culture he inspired. A case study is also presented, of "Snowshoe & Lancet: Memoirs of a Frontier Newfoundland Doctor, 1937-1948," published in 2000 by American physician Robert Skidmore Ecke (1909-2001).

The article discusses the autobiography of Labrador author Lydia Campbell (1818-1905), a self-described "halfbreed" or Inuit Metis (a person of mixed Native American and European heritage), and its place in indigenous Labrador literature and culture. Campbell's life in central Labrador is discussed, as is the meaning of writing and literacy for Labrador Inuits. Her book, "Sketches of Labrador Life by a Labrador Woman," published around 1895, is discussed, as are the reasons she wrote it, and how it was received.