A National Treasure.
L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables Manuscript
L.M. Montgomery’s handwritten
Anne of Green Gables manuscript is full of surprises and puzzles.
Turn the pages and observe how the story of Anne takes shape. Study Montgomery's notes, edits, and handwriting while comparing an annotated transcription with her original pages. What do the backs of the manuscript pages reveal about Montgomery’s methods and work?
L.M. Montgomery’s handwritten Anne of Green Gables manuscript is full of surprises and puzzles.
Turn the pages and observe how the story of Anne takes shape. Study Montgomery's notes, edits, and handwriting while comparing an annotated transcription with her original pages. What do the backs of the manuscript pages reveal about Montgomery’s methods and work?
About the Author
L.M. Montgomery (1874–1942) is now recognized as one of the world’s most beloved, enduringly popular, and influential authors. Struggling as a woman from rural Canada to be accepted as a writer, she eventually won fame and a devoted following.
An avid reader, engaging and thoughtful diarist, gifted photographer, colourful scrapbooker, and faithful letter-writer: Montgomery’s many forms of creativity find expression through her fiction.
Photo Credit: Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph. L.M. Montgomery Collection
Photo Credit: Jean-Sébastien Duchesne
The Writing Process
How did Montgomery write? The more closely we study the original pages, the better we may understand the thirty-year-old author’s disciplined and spontaneous processes for imagining, planning, writing, and revising. She spent months outlining the whole story before she began to compose her first and most famous novel, in June of 1905, in her Macneill grandparents’ kitchen in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.
Montgomery’s Island
An artist with words and images who reflected and re-created life around her, Montgomery was deeply attached to the people, places, and culture of Prince Edward Island and to her family’s Scottish Presbyterian roots. In turn, the “hallowed ground” of her Island home is preserved for visitors and viewers.
Photo Credit: Anne Victoria Photography
Photo Credit: KindredSpaces, L.M. Montgomery Institute, Confederation Centre of the Arts, and Royal Winnipeg Ballet Archives
Anne’s Legacies
For more than 100 years, Anne of Green Gables has captivated readers and attracted new audiences around the world. Through pages and screens, in some 40 languages, Montgomery’s story lives; cover art reveals Anne across cultures and time. A perennially popular Anne of Green Gables–The Musical™ has broken world records. The best-selling novel and indomitable character have inspired numerous works of art and kinds of adaptations.