2024 is L.M. Montgomery’s 150th birthday! The L.M. Montgomery Institute (LMMI) at the University of Prince Edward Island is celebrating with 150 tributes – celebratory statements or greetings – that reflect upon personal connections to Montgomery or on an aspect of her life, work, or legacy.
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To celebrate World Gratitude Day (September 21st), the L.M. Montgomery Institute says thanks to some of the wonderful students we have had assisting us these last couple of years – Eve Murphy, Austen Clayton, Heidi Haering, and Weiqi Tang – by sharing their tributes.
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Thank you, Eve Murphy, our Editorial Assistant for the Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies
Growing up on Prince Edward Island, I have known of “Anne of Green Gables” my entire life. I live in a place where you can buy a cold bottle of raspberry cordial at the nearest corner store. Despite living with Anne, and being an avid reader and writer, I would only first read Montgomery as a teenager. Suddenly, I understood the gravitational pull of Montgomery that brought so many kindred spirits to PEI. Anne would illuminate for me that the fervent imagination I had left behind on the pretence of ‘becoming more mature’ might be a strength as I grew older instead of a weakness. Montgomery would not shy away from the struggles of women, and of life, and Anne’s imagination seemed to beautifully combat life's monotony and make the world a forever interesting place.
Thank you, Montgomery, for writing about such important themes and for inspiring me and many others to shamelessly embrace our imaginative powers.
Eve Murphy is the Editorial Assistant for the Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies and is an arts student studying psychology at the University of Prince Edward Island.
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Thank you, Austen Clayton, a Journal Assistant for the Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies
There is a certain magic that emanates from every strawberry field and every red dirt road here in Prince Edward Island, and that magic is captured perfectly in L.M. Montgomery’s written work. Her descriptions of natural scenery reflect how it feels to bear witness to the Island’s beauty, and remind us to find the beauty in our own surroundings, wherever we may be. Montgomery’s writing casts a spell that renders our own world just a little more magical by encouraging us to marvel at life’s small miracles the way Anne marvels at the White Way of Delight.
In the year of Montgomery’s 150th birthday, I am grateful for her poetic descriptions of the place I call home, and for the legacy she leaves behind, allowing generations of people to find magic in the ordinary world that surrounds us.
Austen Clayton is a Journal Assistant for the Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies. He is very fond of the island he grew up on, and grateful to L.M. Montgomery for depicting it so elegantly.
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Thank you, Heidi Haering, former Student Assistant with the L.M. Montgomery Institute
Montgomery’s journals and books were a lens into the Island’s past and gave context to the province I now call home. In my first anthropology class at the University of Prince Edward Island, the professor asked students whether they thought PEI had a unique culture; most students laughed and shook their heads. I wondered if they felt that every province had an Anne.
Later, I discovered more of Montgomery’s work as a Student Assistant for the L.M. Montgomery Institute (LMMI). Through projects at the LMMI, I took special note of the physical landscape of PEI – a province often left off renderings of the map of Canada – and how the land was shaped by history. My projects linked Montgomery’s past to the present; I continue to follow this thread in my graduate work as I investigate land politics in PEI.
Heidi Haering recently received an MA in Anthropology at Memorial University with a thesis on Prince Edward Island land politics.
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Thank you, Weiqi Tang, former Social Media Coordinator for the LMMI
I wanted to dedicate this painting as a gift for Maud’s birthday, as I imagine she would smile when she saw it.
Originally from China, Weiqi Tang is a multidisciplinary artist living in Prince Edward Island. She is a graduate of Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture at the University of Prince Edward Island and was the social media coordinator for the L.M. Montgomery Institute.
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Next week our tributes will celebrate Montgomery in the context of World Tourism Day (September 27th).