The Anne of Green Gables Manuscript Digital Exhibition

Today, a digital exhibition launched called "The Anne of Green Gables Manuscript: L.M. Montgomery and the Creation of Anne" that features a digitized version of L.M. Montgomery's original handwritten manuscript for Anne of Green Gables. Fans of Anne of Green Gables can explore the text to see L.M. Montgomery's writing process and analyze how she developed the story.

Check out the exhibit at: annemanuscript.ca

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Here's the press release for the exhibit by the Confederation Centre of the Arts:

January 19, 2023 – For the first time ever, L.M. Montgomery’s original manuscript of Anne of Green Gables is available to readers everywhere through a new digital exhibition.

The Anne of Green Gables Manuscript: L.M. Montgomery and the Creation of Anne officially launched online today. The digital exhibition will allow people to explore Montgomery’s original text, see what was written on the back of pages, and find out how famous moments were developed or revised. The interactive website includes never-before-seen material, such as Montgomery’s publishing contract for the novel.

“Visitors can pore over every pen stroke – there are bits of short story drafts and heavily scratched out passages that just beg for one to zoom in. We have also added hundreds of photo and video annotations to learn from,” says Dr. Emily Woster, an L.M. Montgomery scholar who curated the exhibition. “This is a celebration of Montgomery’s creative process, and we invite scholars and fans alike to explore the site and trace the origins of Anne.”

The high-quality digitization of the manuscript gives visitors a unique opportunity to learn about the author and Prince Edward Island, and reflect on Anne’s legacy in print, on screen, and on stage – including the nearly 60-year history of Anne of Green Gables–The Musical™ at The Charlottetown Festival.

The digital exhibition is presented by Confederation Centre of the Arts, the University of Prince Edward Island’s Robertson Library and L.M. Montgomery Institute, and developed with funding from the Digital Museums Canada investment program. The Digital Museums Canada investment program helps build digital capacity in Canadian museums and heritage organizations and gives Canadians unique access to diverse stories and experiences. Digital Museums Canada is managed by the Canadian Museum of History, with the financial support of the Government of Canada.

The history of the novel dates back to the summer of 1905, when Montgomery began writing Anne’s story in the kitchen of her home in Cavendish. The classic novel is beloved the world over, inspiring millions of readers in over 40 languages. The original manuscript resides in the archives at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown, and only a lucky few have been able to see it or study it in person.

“This important project will vastly increase access to the manuscript, generating new understanding and appreciation of the novel’s beginnings and of its author,” says L.M. Montgomery Institute chair Dr. Philip Smith. “The digitization by the expert staff at UPEI’s Robertson Library will allow enthusiasts around the world to discover Montgomery’s creativity in interactive ways not previously available.”

The digital exhibition is available in English and French and can be viewed online at annemanuscript.ca.

Press release retreived from: https://confederationcentre.com/news/digital-exhibition-anne-manuscript/ (January 19, 2023).

Created January 19, 2023.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Readying Rilla: L.M. Montgomery's Reworking of Rilla of Ingleside

Readying Rilla: L.M. Montgomery's Reworking of Rilla of Ingleside edited by Elizabeth Waterston and Kate Waterston was published by Rock's Mill Press on February 25, 2016. The book includes a full transcription of Montgomery's 518-page handwritten original manuscript of the novel as well as the additional 71 pages of “notes” Montgomery composed while writing the story. L.M. Montgomery's handwritten pages were transcribed by Kate Waterston. The book also includes annotations of the text. Examining the manuscript and the finished novel provides insight into L.M. Montgomery's creative process as a writer.

Here is the description of the book from Rock's Mill Press:

L.M. Montgomery began writing Rilla of Ingleside shortly after the end of World War I. Her story of the war was not about soldiers fighting and dying on Flanders Fields, but about Canadians struggling to “keep the home fires burning.” It is a novel that today remains at once both deeply moving and, on occasion, very funny. As she wrote the novel over a period of two years, Montgomery accumulated 518 handwritten pages. Alongside this stack was another 71 pages, titled “Notes.” These notes---literary second thoughts, as it were---added textual flavour, improving the novel’s realism, emotional depth, and humour. Montgomery’s handwritten manuscript of Rilla was acquired by the University of Guelph Archival & Special Collections in 1999. This manuscript has been painstakingly rendered in a readable format by Kate Waterston and is now published as Readying Rilla, with an introduction by Montgomery expert Elizabeth Waterston.

This edition is a surprisingly engrossing read, but offers a different experience than the finished novel provides. Here we sense Montgomery’s own thought processes, and witness the way she carefully refined her novel. The world has changed much since 1921: now books are mostly composed on computer, leaving behind little record of the writer’s creative journey to a final published work. But editing is a key process in creating any great work of fiction, and here is one of the most detailed records of creativity available.

L.M. MONTGOMERY, OBE (1874–1942) wrote 20 books in her lifetime, including Anne of Green Gables (1908), Rilla of Ingleside (1921) and Emily of New Moon (1923). She also kept a series of journals from the age of fifteen to the end of her life..

Reviews

“I love L.M. Montgomery's novel Rilla of Ingleside, and this gives a whole new way of seeing and appreciating it. As always, Elizabeth Waterston's prose is beautiful, and her introduction makes the reader want to dive right in to see what pattern can be intuited from the kinds of changes [Montgomery] made on the manuscript. Altogether a fascinating read. -- Elizabeth R. Epperly, author of The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance

Image credit:
Book cover of Readying Rilla: L.M. Montgomery's Reworking of Rilla of Ingleside from Rock's Mill Press.

Purchase and read Readying Rilla: L.M. Montgomery's Reworking of Rilla of Ingleside:


Created March 15, 2016. Last updated June 9, 2024.
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