Searching for Home: the Many Lives of Lucy Maud Montgomery

An Exhibit at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre — October, 2008 to January, 2009

Hidden Gems

The jewels of the exhibit are the artifacts gleaned from the University of Guelph's extensive archival collection of Montgomery memorabilia. Never before on public display, the curators have carefully selected intimate personal items that allow us to understand what made the author tick. Her journals (1889 – 1942), written from the age of 15 until her death, and the meticulous scrapbooks which she kept as a record of the world around her through much of her life record her thoughts and daily activities.

Among these we can see the realities and events that influenced her writing and her characters. The exquisite Rilla of Ingleside manuscript shows her mastery of the writer's craft and gives insight into the artistic process. Often many pages were written in virtually there final form, with no more than a comma or a phrase added when Montgomery did her final editing later.