When Ernest Jones First Arrived in Toronto; or, Reappraising the Bruce Letter

• Published in: Canadian Bulletin of Medical History
• Main Author: Kuhn, Philip
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 2018
• Subjects: General Medicine; Greenland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cbmh.211-072017; https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/cbmh.211-072017

In July 1962, Toronto-based surgeon, Herbert Bruce, wrote a private and confidential letter to social worker and historian Cyril Greenland with some memories and impressions of Sigmund Freud's lifelong friend and biographer, Ernest Jones, in Toronto (1908–1913). In the letter, Bruce described Jones as a “sexual pervert.” Despite Bruce's condemnation of Jones, historians and biographers have largely ignored his controversial memories of Jones in Toronto. The article traces how scholars have handled the existence of the Bruce letter, and the consequences for how this history has been understood. In the latter half of the article, the author considers how the existence of this letter might offer insights into how the Toronto medical establishment regarded Ernest Jones.