In 1911 Hugh Payne Greeley, a recent graduate of the Harvard Medical Schoool, began a term as a physician in the isolated fishing community of Pilley's Island, Newfoundland. The Greeley papers, consisting of correspondence, financial records, writings and memorabilia, document Hugh P. Greeley's years at Pilley's Island (1911-1912). Greeley's published account of his work, Work and Play in the Grenfell Mission, ca. 1920, provides a fuller account of his service.
Will M. Greeley donated the papers to the Yale University Library in 1987.
Correspondence comprises the bulk of the papers and concerns negotiations over the establishment of a hospital, the aid provided by Wilfred T. Grenfell and the government of Canada, and the lack of financial support which led to patients describing their ailments and the success of the prescribed treatments. Included among the writings in the papers are Greeley's reports on his work and an extract of the journal he kept. In addition the papers contain printed material and clippings concerning Greeley's work and financial records of payments for services.