The History of the LMMI

Events that influenced the founding of the LMMI:

  1. Montgomery graduated from Prince of Wales College (PWC) in 1894. She is thus an alumna of UPEI.
  2. Island historian and UPEI History professor, Dr. F.W.P. Bolger, was inspired by the newly rediscovered girlhood letters of Montgomery to her cousin, Penzie Macneill in Cavendish, and published the ground-breaking The Years Before Anne in 1974.
  3. In 1978, Dr. Bolger invited Dr. Elizabeth R. Epperly to edit with him a collection of letters written by Montgomery to her Scottish pen pal, G.B. MacMillan. McGraw-Hill Ryerson published the book in 1980 (and Oxford University Press, in 1992) as My Dear Mr. M: Letters to G.B. MacMillan from L.M. Montgomery.  
  4. Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston co-edited volumes I, II, III, IV and V (Oxford UP 1985, 1987, 1992, 1998, and 2004, respectively) of the Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery and Montgomery scholarship came into its own.  
  5. When Elizabeth Epperly rejoined the UPEI campus in 1992, after publishing the first full-length critical study of all Montgomery’s novels, The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass, founding Women Studies professor Dr. Elizabeth Percival urged her to make a Montgomery proposal for a special SSHRC competition. Dr. Epperly’s  proposal for the creation of the LMMI was enthusiastically endorsed by Dr. Bolger as well as by Dr. Percival and the Dean of Arts, Robert Campbell.

In addition to start-up and conference funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the LMMI has benefited from the generous support of the Macdonald Stewart Foundation. The LMMI has received financial support for special research and design projects from the Wanda Wyatt Foundation for the creation of the award-winning CD-ROM, The Bend in the Road; the Virtual Museum of Canada, for the online exhibition (in partnership with the Confederation Centre Art Gallery, the Lucy Maud Montgomery Birthplace, the University of Guelph Library, and the Heirs of L.M. Montgomery) "Picturing a Canadian Life: L.M. Montgomery’s Scrapbooks and Book Covers" (this exhibition was subsequently chosen as Canada’s gift to Japan Expo in 2005 and was translated into Japanese by Canadian Heritage); Smart Communities and the Knowledge Economy Partnership, for workshops and school programs; Aliant Leadership Sponsor funds, for four years of support for multiple educational programs and lectures.