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Histories of public health reform in Canada rarely mention New Brunswick, even though its innovative Department of Health, established in 1918, was the first full ministry of health in Canada. This paper traces the institutionalization of this public health reform by a small group of New Brunswick physicians, united by their immersion in American medical training and innovative public health ideologies. It reframes explanations of the rise of public health reform in Canada by widening an explanatory lens to encompass the exclusive influence of American models of disease and public health. It also breaks a negative regional stereotype of New Brunswick by highlighting the potential for reform and innovation in small and ostensibly less modern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literary archives often reflect the individual writer, and, in the case of Marie-Claire Blais, especially illustrate her complexity. An overall picture of the core Blaisian archival collections, including media, in Canada, the United States, and France is briefly presented, with some discussion of challenges posed for the researcher concerning their access and use. To illustrate some insights afforded into Blais's literary development in the first 10 years of her career, letters from three archives, the Fonds Judith Jasmin in Montreal, the Wilson collections at Yale University, and the Barbara Deming Papers at Radcliffe College, are studied together with related material from Blais's memoir "Parcours d'un écrivain: Notes améicaines," Wilson's published letters and diaries, and Mary Meigs's autobiography "Lily Briscoe: A Self-Portrait." Some observations and ideas concerning multidimensional innovators such as Blais and the archival issues thus raised are explored, with a suggested role for our national institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]