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  The Anne of Green Gables  Manuscript
The Anne of Green Gables Manuscript:
  • The
    Manuscript
    • The Manuscript
    • About the Project
    • Verso Pages
    • L.M.M. Notes
  • The
    Author
    • L.M. Montgomery (1874–1942): A Writer’s Creative Life
    • The Life and Work of L.M. Montgomery
    • Rich with Allusions: Anne’s Literary Connections
    • Roots and Branches of the Family Tree: L.M. Montgomery’s Families
    • Other Sites and Stories
  • The Writing
    Process
    • Writing in the Kitchen: An Animation
    • The Manuscript Montgomery Created
    • Montgomery’s Imagining and Mapping
    • Montgomery’s Writing and Revising
    • What’s on the Backs of the Pages?
  • Montgomery’s
    Island
    • The Garden of the Gulf: Montgomery’s Prince Edward Island
    • The Island and Its People
    • Montgomery’s Cavendish
    • Reading the Land through Anne of Green Gables
    • The House of Home
    • L.M. Montgomery’s Green Gables
    • Discovering L.M. Montgomery and Anne in Cavendish
  • Anne’s
    Legacies
    • Covering the World
    • The Swedish Translation of Anne of Green Gables
    • Anne in Twenty-first Century Japan
    • Anne on Screen
    • Anne at Centre Stage
    • So Many Different Annes
    • Anne of Green Gables: Literary Classic
  • Resources
    & Links

The Writing Process » Writing in the Kitchen: An Animation

Writing in the Kitchen: An Animation

Writing in the Kitchen:
An Animation

Elizabeth R. Epperly

L.M. Montgomery began to write Anne of Green Gables in the Macneill kitchen, in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, in June of 1905. 1

white farmhouse closely surrounded by trees, kitchen on the left
Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph. L.M. Montgomery Collection.

Montgomery’s hand-tinted photograph of the Macneill home, circa 1900. Red circle added to show the kitchen.
Click image to enlarge.

bearded man driving a buggy, white farmhouse in background
Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph. L.M. Montgomery Collection.

Mr. Crewe, Cavendish mailman, in his wagon, circa 1895.

Montgomery’s grandparents’ kitchen was much more than a place to prepare meals or keep warm in winter. It was also the local post office, vital for news and gossip and an ideal place for a writer to absorb community life. In charge of the mailbag, Montgomery had been able to send out for publication—secretly—hundreds of short stories and poems.

Montgomery vividly recalled writing the opening of her famous novel; it was the same evening the Rev. Ewan Macdonald stopped in for his mail (beginning their courtship):

I remember well the very evening I wrote the opening paragraph of Green Gables. It was a moist, showery, sweet-scented evening in June ten years ago.  I was sitting on the end of the table, in the old kitchen, my feet on the sofa, beside the west window, because I wanted to get the last gleams of daylight on my portfolio.  I did not for a moment dream that the book I had just begun was to bring me the fame and success I had long dreamed of.  So I wrote, [sic] the opening paragraphs quite easily, not feeling obliged to “write up” to any particular reputation or style.  Just as I had finished my description of Mrs. Lynde and her home Ewan walked in. (April 18, 1914, CJ: Ontario Years, 156).

Animation depicting L.M. Montgomery's writing process through the eyes of her cat, Daffy.
Animation: Lillian Xie (2022 - 00:49). Learn more about how the animation was created here.

A pen and ink animation of a small frame house in the woods begins with an overhead view and soft birdsong. The view then zooms in to follow a cat into the propped door of the home. The cat has entered the cozy kitchen of the house, and soft piano notes play in the background while a kettle gently boils on the stovetop. The cat sees a woman sitting on the edge of the table, her feet propped up on the sofa near the warm stove. As the cat jumps up to join her, the woman grabs a sheet of paper from a stack near her. At first, the cat walks across the page, but then the woman dips her pen and begins. She crosses out some text on the back of the page, flips it over and begins to write. The view slowly pans out, and the soft scratching of the pen is heard.

Transcript

Excited to have the long “brooding up” and outlining process behind her, Montgomery enjoyed drafting the full story from her detailed notes.

The upwards-slanting, confident movement of the handwriting on the opening page of the manuscript reflects Montgomery’s happiness in finally writing out the story she had been preparing for months to tell. 

Montgomery Manuscript scan
Montgomery Manuscript scan

Sample scan of Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables manuscript.

Montgomery preserved only one picture of the interior of the kitchen. To take it, she probably stood in the corner of the room where the western wall met the main house wall, very close to the spot where she began to write Anne of Green Gables.

black and white photo of a room with woodstove and dresser with china, tabby cat beside the stove
Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph. L.M. Montgomery Collection.

The interior of the Macneill kitchen, where Montgomery began writing Anne of Green Gables. Click image to enlarge.

LMM_SketchArt_Pen_500

1 The original kitchen building has recently been returned to the Macneill property, the Site of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Cavendish Home. This photograph shows the eastern side of the building, opposite the western window where Montgomery began to write. Back

small, grey shingled building with a walking ramp leading to the open door.

Kitchen building today, with the Eastern side showing.

Related Stories

The Manuscript Montgomery Created

Montgomery’s Imagining and Mapping

Montgomery’s Writing and Revising

What’s on the Backs of the Pages?

L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables Manuscript is presented by the Confederation Centre of the Arts, the L.M. Montgomery Institute, and the University of Prince Edward Island's Robertson Library. Funded by Digital Museums Canada.

Confederation Centre

L. M. Montgomery Institute

University of Prince Edward Isalnd

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