‘Imagining Anne’

Elizabeth Epperly is to go give the public a peek at the insights and everyday life of the Island’s iconic author

A new compilation of L.M. Montgomery scrapbooks will be launched on Thursday, July 25, 2:30-3:30 p.m., in the Robertson Library at UPEI in Charlottetown.

“Imaging Anne: The Island Scrapbooks of L.M. Montgomery’’ was compiled and edited by Elizabeth Epperly, past-president of UPEI and founder of the L.M. Montgomery Institute (LMMI).

Epperly will speak about the book and sign copies. Montgomery treasures from the LMMI and Robertson Library will also be on display. All are welcome.

The world may know Montgomery as an author but many do not know her as an ardent scrapbooker. She collected items from everyday life — including pressed flowers, souvenirs, cats’ fur, advertisements — and created colourful mixed media collages. Looking at the pages, readers might learn something about her times, when line drawings and hand-coloured plates entertained audiences and also about her thoughtful choices and creative processes.

Epperly serves as a guide through the scrapbooks, suggesting stories hidden and revealed among the vibrant images.

Montgomery mined her scrapbooks for material and even altered them over the years.

In 1905, outlining and writing “Anne of Green Gables’’, she turned to her own colourful arrangements and found puffed sleeves, school girl antics, passion for nature, hints of romance and traces of genuine heartache. She continued to create personal scrapbooks until just a few years before her death but these early Island scrapbooks and the liveliest and most personally revealing, roughly covering the mid-1890s to mid-1910, showing a young creative artist at thoughtful play and a mature artist, internationally successful, considering her past and future.

“Imaging Anne’’ is made possible through the partnering of the Heirs of L.M. Montgomery Inc., the Lucy Maud Montgomery Birthplace Trust, the Confederation Centre Art Gallery, the L.M. Montgomery institute and Epperly.