First, I am indebted to Dr. E. Stuart Macdonald for first suggesting that I write a biography of his mother. He died in 1982, and Elizabeth Waterston and I then began editing his mother’s journals, bringing them out between 1985 and 2004. The L.M. Montgomery Project, with support from the University of Guelph and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, continued over a thirty-year period. Elizabeth and I have had many happy years working together on a writer we admire, sharing research with many other international enthusiasts in the process. The early scholars whose research has underpinned Montgomery studies are Gabriella Åhmansson, F.W.P. Bolger, Elizabeth R. Epperly, Carole Gerson, Mollie Gillen, Elizabeth Waterston, and Rea Wilmshurst.
My own research on Montgomery began in the early 1970s. People who generously assisted me are legion, and many credited below are now dead. As my generation knows too well, the early days of the electronic age were fraught with frequent data loss, and I apologize to those whose names have been inadvertently omitted.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, three University of Guelph students helped me with the initial research for this biography, and their exceptional dedication deserves special citation. Evan W. Siddall researched and analyzed Montgomery’s publishing history, the legal entanglements, and her financial dealings, setting up timely interviews in the USA with aging parties to these affairs. Kate Wood’s invaluable research focused on retrieving the culture of Montgomery’s youth and early years from microfilmed Prince Edward Island and Ontario newspapers and books. Morgan Dennis worked on Montgomery’s later Ontario years, researching people, places, and transactions. My debt to these three people is incalculable.
Numerous other students did valuable early work on the LMM Project, but special thanks goes to my two daughters, who first began assisting me during their own school years: Jennie Rubio’s help included compiling books Montgomery read or quoted from, and Tracy (Rubio) Siddall organized and recorded financial and other data for assessment. Rosemary Waterston also did helpful research in many areas. Others who contributed to the Montgomery project in their student years include Nick Whistler, Marie Campbell, Rebecca and James Conolly, Benjamin Lefebvre, Leanne Wild, Rebecca Olivier, Laura Higgins, Kathy Jia, Stephanie Waterston, and Katie Waterston. Patrick Firth and Angela Lombardi prepared a bibliography for the website: www.lmmrc.ca.
Editorial assistance on this manuscript came from Amy Black at Doubleday Canada, Meg Masters, and Meg Taylor. I am also particularly indebted to Elizabeth Waterston for her advice, responses, and constant encouragement, and to my daughter, Jennie Rubio, for her experienced, vigorous, and sensitive editorial help with the final manuscript.
Relatives and acquaintances of both Montgomery and the other players in her life have been generous with help. For the PEI years, special thanks goes to the following: Ruth, George, and Maureen Campbell of Park Corner; Mrs. Wilfred (Mary) Furness, Gordon, and Sharon Furness of Vernon River; Doris Munsey Haslam of Charlottetown; Doris Stirling Jenkins of Summerside; Georgie and Bruce MacLeod of Kensington; Christine McLeod of Orwell Cove; John and Jennie Macneill of Montgomery’s Cavendish home; Dr. Lewis B. Woolner of the Mayo Clinic and Evelyn Woolner of Rustico; and Jean Macphail Weber of the Macphail Homestead Museum in Orwell. I also thank Leta Andrews, Mrs. Ralph Callbeck, Constance Carruthers, Anne Hart, Mrs. Hants B. Hunter, Eileen MacKendrick Leard, Louise Lowther, Helen Macdonald, George MacFarlane, Jean MacFarlane, Nancy MacFarlane, Percy MacGougan, Clayton McLure, Albert Middleton, Mrs. R.C. (Blanche) Montgomery, Helen MacFarlane Nicholls, and Dr. Lemuel Prowse.
For later years in Ontario, in addition to Montgomery’s maids, I particularly thank Harold and Wilda Clark, Margaret Mustard, and Isabel Mustard St. John of Uxbridge; Nina Pickering Lunney of Zephyr; Cameron, Fred, and Jessie Leask and Mary Stiver of Leaskdale; Luella Reid Macdonald of Brampton; Joan Carter, Robert and Elaine Laird Crawford, Kathy Carter Gastle, Marion Webb Laird, Mary Maxwell, and Margaret Russell of Norval; Catharine Agnes Hunt, Joy Leard, and Justice Douglas V. Latimer of Georgetown; David and Kay Dills of Acton; Marcella Berger, Dr. Richard Braiden, Nora Lane Braiden, L.E. “Ted” Jones, Dr. E. Stuart Macdonald, Ruth Macdonald, Lena McClure, Dr. D. McIntosh, Linda Sparks (Olive Watson), Anita Webb, and Robert L. Woolner of Toronto; David Macdonald of Kleinburg; Mike W. Chepesuik of British Columbia; R. W. Macqueen of Waterloo; Ed and Bette Campbell of Haileybury; Violet King Morgan of Guelph; Roberta Mary Sparks Richardson of Hamilton; and Eric Gaskell of Ottawa.
I also thank Emma Andrews, Mrs. Will Bacon, George and Noreen Bell, Merle Collins, J. Austin Cook, Chester Early, Norma Fitzgerald, Ruth Gallant, Evelyn Harrison, Elsie Hunter, Robert Jardine, Ken Leslie, Edna McClure, Margaret McKane, Marjorie McKee, Dorothy Watson McLean, William Steele, Ruth Wade, Winnifred Wake, and Reg Winfield, plus many members of the Leaskdale, Norval, and Guelph church and community organizations.
The scores of archivists and librarians who have assisted me include Linda Armichand, Margaret Beckman, Lorne Bruce, Bev Buckie, Virginia Gillham, Bernard Katz, Ellen Morrison, Nancy Sadek, and Darlene Wiltsie at the University of Guelph; Kevin Rice, David Webber, and Moncrieff Williamson at the Confederation Centre; Merritt Crocket, Frankie Dindial, Mary Beth Harris, and Simon Lloyd of the University of Prince Edward Island Library; Elizabeth DeBlois of the L.M. Montgomery Institute; Marilyn Bell and Charlotte Stewart of the Public Archives in Charlottetown; Peter D. Hingley of the Royal Astronomical Society (U.K.); Alan S. Wakefield and Matthew Lee of the Imperial War Museum (U.K.); Carl Spadoni of McMaster University; Irene Aubrey, Don Carter, Anne Goddard, and Peter Rachon at the National Library of Canada; Kim Arnold at the Presbyterian Church Archives; Judith Colwell of the United Church Archives and the Maritime Conference; Marie Hammond, Anne-Marie Langlois, and Susan Lewthwaite at the Law Society of Upper Canada; Judy Ginsberg of the Osgoode Hall Archives; Ken Ryan of the St. Andrew’s College Archives; Carole Lindsay at the Toronto Star; Amanda Valpy at the Globe and Mail; Hazel Robertson at the National Library of Scotland; Ron Rybnikar at the Babson Institute Archives; Orlo Jones and Douglas Fraser at the PEI Heritage Foundation; Paul Sharkey and Karen Teeple of the City of Toronto Archives; Patricia Townsend of the Acadia University Archives; Henry F. Scannell and Aaron Schmidt of the Boston Public Library; Yuka Kajihara and Leslie McGrath of the Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books; Brian Winter of the Whitby Museum; Brenda Dunn, Barbara MacDonald, and Tom Reddin of Parks Canada; Allan McGillivray of the Uxbridge-Scott Historical Society; Michael S. Moss and Elspeth Reid of the University of Glasgow; Anne Dondertman and Monique Flaccavento of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library; Carolyn Cannon and Michael Moore of the York University Library; Steven Whalen of the Uxbridge Library; Marina Englesakis at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto; Cynthia Murphy of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum; Katherine Roy of PEN, Margaret Booth and Karen Tinsley of the Imperial Life Insurance Company of Toronto; John Choules, Andrew Cross, and Jim Lewis of the Archives of Ontario; Muriel Lockhart of Springfield, Massachuetts; Garron Wells of the University of Toronto; Lynne Dunlop and Marg Murray of the Tillsonburg United Church; Mary Beth Bagg and Fred Hall of the University of Indianapolis; Laura T. Neil of the Alloa (Scotland) Library; Mary Ann Welch of the University of Western Ontario Law Library; and Ken Puley of the CBC Radio Archives.
Members of the medical community assisted my understanding of forensic pharmacology, psychiatric and mood disorders, and musculoskeletal problems. Special thanks goes to Dr. Angus Beck in Prince Edward Island, and in Ontario to Dr. Michael Howitt of Guelph, and to Professors Harold Kalant, Denis Grant, and Ernest Steib of the University of Toronto. Thanks also to Dr. Alexander Watt, Dr. Ruth Tatham, Danny Lui (B.Sc.Phm), Minette Roy (RMT), Kathy James (RPT) of Guelph; to Dr. Mary McKim MacKenzie of London; to Catherine Munn and Dr. E. Kaminska of Hamilton; and to doctors in Toronto’s Clarke Institute, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and Sunnybrook Hospital, including Drs. Anne Bassett, R.A. Cleghorn, Cyril Greenland, Jack Griffin, Steven Hucker, and Zindel V. Segal.
Of the many lawyers contacted, I particularly acknowledge the help of James Innes Stewart, Q.C., president of the 1939 graduating class at Osgoode Hall, and I also appreciate information from Jacie Horwitz, Kenneth Foulds, W.H.C. Boyd, Roy Clement Sharp, W. G. C. Howland, David Ongley, Rupert Parkinson, Mervin Mirsky, Samuel Lerner, Gregory T. Evans, and William Parker. Thanks also to Celia Bobkin of Blake, Cassels, and Graydon.
Others who furnished specific, useful information for this project are Anne Adams, Hans Beck, Michael Bliss, Ruth Compton Brouwer, Donna Campbell, Virginia Careless, Beth Cavert, Carolyn Collins, Peter Coues, Joanne Craig, David Donaldson (Prestwick Golf Club, Scotland), Owen Dudley Edwards (Scotland), Elizabeth Epperly, the Right Honorable Archibald George, Earl of Eglinton and Winton (of London, U.K.), Carole Gerson, Judy Grant, Jack and Linda Jackson Hutton, Bernard Katz, G. Douglas Killam, Jennifer Litster (Scotland), Klaus Martens (Germany), Kevin McCabe, the Honorable Pauline M. McGibbon, Janice Dickin McGinnis, Lena C. McLure, Heather Murray, Ian Ross Robertson, John Robert Sorfleet, Roger W. Straus, J.R. (Tim) Struthers, Clara Thomas, Barbara Wachowicz (Poland), Gavin White (Scotland), and James W. Wilson, O.B.E. (of Skelmorlie Castle, Ayrshire, Scotland).
I also thank the following people for contributing to my work and research: Yoshiko Akamatsu (Japan), Marian Badgery, Kathy Belicki, Sue Bennett, Jane Waterston Bregha, Keith Brewer (U.S.A.), Susan Brown, Helen Buss, Elspeth Cameron, Lynn Campbell, the Rev. Mary Campbell, Norman and Elaine Campbell, Joan Brown Carter, Ronald Cohen, J.T.H. Connor, Barbara Conolly, Gwendolyn Davies, Marie C. Davis (Zimmerman), Margaret Anne Doody (U.S.A.), Rae Fleming, Carol Gaboury (U.S.A.), Irene Gammel, Virginia Gillham, Billie Godson, Beverley A. Hayden, Marian Hebb, Lynne Hoehamer, Huifeng Hu (China), Yuka Izawa (Japan), Marlene Kadar, Clarence Karr, Phyllis Keeling, Michael Kennedy, Catherine Kerrigan (Scotland), Deirdre Kessler, Don Kuiken, Eleanor Lamont, Marjory Lang, Margaret Laurence, Ruth Law, Jean Little, Ami Lonnroth (Sweden), Margaret MacKay (Scotland), the Rev. Eoin MacKay, Asim Masoud, Mary McDonald-Rissanen (Finland), Ron McKeen, Bill McNeill, John Moldenhauer, Allan L. Montgomery, Kenneth H. Montgomery, Graeme Morton, Heather Murray, Elaine Kalman Naves, Perry Nodelman, Jason Nolan, Mariam Montgomery Perkins (U.S.A.), Ormande Pickard (U.K.), Anna Pisulewska-Zelazny (Poland), David Rehak (Czech Republic), Laura Robinson, Sami Roodi (Iran), Catherine Sheldrick Ross, Malcolm Ross, Paul Salmon, Judi Saltman, Shelley Sanders, Tim Sauer, Ivan Sayers, Carol Shields, Wayne Skinner, Edith Smith, Kay Smith, Glenys Stow, Leon Surette, Clara Thomas, Paul and Hildi Tiessen, William Toye, Fred Turner, Jonathan Vance, Christyl Verduyn, Sandy Wagner, Douglas Waterston, Nick Whistler, Jane E. Wilson, Joanne Wood, Dr. John Woodger, Emily Woods, Christie Wooster (U.S.A.), Lorraine York, and Alan R. Young. I thank Chris Lee of Guelph, my late husband Gerald J. Rubio, and my son-in-law, Tony Collins of McMaster University, for endless and patient computer assistance.
Administrators at Guelph who have greatly facilitated my work over the years are Margaret Beckman, G. Douglas Killam, Wayne Marsh, David Murray, Michael Ridley, and Helen Salmon. Finally, I thank my agents at Westwood Creative Artists (Toronto): first Jan Whitford and then Jackie Kaiser.