1920, Le Petit Nord or Annals of a Labrador Harbour by Anne Grenfell and Katie Spalding with news cl

1920, Le Petit Nord or Annals of a Labrador Harbour by Anne Grenfell and Katie Spalding with news cl

📘 Bibliographic Information

• Title: Le Petit Nord: or, Annals of a Labrador Harbour 

• Authors: Anne MacLanahan Grenfell (1885‑1938) and Katie Spalding. 

• Publication: Boston & New York : Houghton Mifflin Company, Riverside Press, Cambridge. 1920. Edition/Format: v + [1] + 198 pages + [1] leaf of plates; illustrations; 19 cm. 

• Other Imprint: London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1920 (UK edition) mentioned by some sources. 

• Subject matter: Missions in Newfoundland & Labrador (Labrador coast), descriptions and travel. 

🧭 Overview of Content & Scope

• The book is composed in the form of letters/journal‑entries by Anne Grenfell about her year of mission work at the orphanage at St. Antoine (sometimes “St. Anthony”) in the northern peninsula of Newfoundland (“Le Petit Nord” region) under her husband, Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. 

• The text describes remote out‑port life, the natural environment (ice, storms, rugged terrain), the mission work, children and community conditions. For example: the book opens with journeying past Cape St. John, the ice field, remote settlements, and the writer observing the conditions of the people. The title “Le Petit Nord” refers to the French “small north” (northern peninsula/traditional French shore) in Newfoundland. 

• Illustrations: The book is illustrated—drawings by Wilfred Grenfell (Anne’s husband) are included. 

• It blends memoir, descriptive narrative, missionary/charitable viewpoint, and regional travel literature.

✅ Significance

• It provides an important primary or semi‑primary source for the history of mission work in Labrador/Newfoundland during the early 20th century, especially from the perspective of a woman missionary worker.

• It offers vivid descriptive details of life in remote Labrador communities at that time—settlements, children’s conditions, education, isolation, extreme weather. These kinds of accounts are valuable to historians of Newfoundland & Labrador.

• It contributes to the literature of northern Canada and missionary narratives, and offers insight into how the mission (Grenfell Mission) portrayed itself and its environment. Indeed, the book has been noted as part of the mission’s “propaganda potential”. 

• Because the text is now in public domain (e.g., available via Project Gutenberg) it is accessible for research. 

⚠️ Points & Caveats

• The perspective is from the mission/charitable viewpoint, so it reflects particular assumptions (about “civilising” influences, the mission’s role, remote out‑port conditions) and may contain biases typical of its era. For example, descriptions of “poverty”, “ignorance”, remote settlement life are tinged with missionary language. Though descriptive, the text is not strictly a neutral sociological study—it’s narrative, composed of letters, and part of the mission’s publicity/awareness‑raising efforts. As one author notes: “Le Petit Nord … attests to the propaganda potential of mission literature.” 

• For historical work you may want to cross‑reference the conditions described here with other archival/official sources on Labrador missions, settlement statistics, Indigenous populations, etc.

• Availability: While digital copies exist, physical editions (especially first editions) may be rare or collector’s items. Some listings note signed copies or special illustrations.