L.M. Montgomery Literary Society meetings are organized by Carolyn
Collins and members are notified by email and phone. If you would like to be included or would like to receive editions of
The Shining Scroll, send your email address to Carolyn Collins or Mary Beth Cavert.
We provide the content of our programs. In recent years, members
have presented their papers that were given at Montgomery conferences at the University of Prince Edward Island. One member
is related to L.M. Montgomery (her father was a first cousin) and shared her family history with us as well as performing
the song, "Anne Theme," from the long lost 1919 silent film of Anne of Green Gables.
We also are treated to wonderful meals at member's homes and to
their collections of books, home-made quilts, and folk art.
Our members are willing to do presentations and special
programs for groups. We are teachers and readers with interest and expertise in children's literature; we are researchers
and writers and enthusiastic fans. Our members have hundreds of early and first edition copies of Montgomery's
books available for display. We also have several hard to find videos about Montgomery's life. We have collections of
Montgomery related memorabilia (films, theater), and photo albums of sites on Prince Edward Island.
Pati Kachel is an excellent story teller and has a program especially
designed about Anne of Green Gables and L.M. Montgomery: Pati Katchel, storyteller. For more about her, read this new article.
2009
In celebration of the 90th Anniversary of the filming of the first movie of Anne of Green Gables, Carolyn Strom Collins
will present "Re-creating the 1919 Lost Silent Movie of Anne of Green Gables" at the Dedham, Massachusetts, Historial Society
meeting on November 19, 2009.
The movie was filmed in and around Dedham in August 1919 and was premiered there
in November 1919. Collins' recreation uses still photographs, a long-lost 'script' of the movie, and other resources to show
how the movie was put together and how it differed from the Anne books on which it was based. She will also present
some details on the Hollywood scandal that finally led to the destruction of the original film.
This program was
originally presented as part of the 2008 L. M. Montgomery International Symposium in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
May 2, 2009: Members of the LMM Literary Society were invited to be part
of a community tea-party event in Brooklyn Park, MN. The Brooklyn Park Community Center provided
and served tea and refreshments to about 60 mothers and their daughters while we told the audience about Anne
of Green Gables. We helped them create some "Anne" crafts based on some of those in The
Anne of Green Gables Treasury. Pati Kachel presented a story-time session and her collection of Victorian
hats and costumes were available for trying on and for picture-taking - a great hit! The sold-out
event was a delightful way to introduce our society to another audience.
April
25, 2009: The LMM Literary Society welcomed University of Prince Edward Island Special Collections Librarian
Simon Lloyd. He gave a very special presentation on UPEI's extensive
collection of LM Montgomery publications and personal artifacts as well as methods of collection, preservation, display, and
scholarly study. He noted that LMM's pocket watch and miniature version of her OBE were recently donated to the UPEI collection by descendents of L. M. Montgomery
and showed photographs of these and other items during his presentation.
During his few days here in the Twin Cities,
Simon pored over several LMM Literary Society members' collections of LMM books, articles and related items for inclusion
in the database he is preparing for UPEI and the L. M. Montgomery Institute.
Beginning February
19, 2009: a book club for adults who love children's literature will meet at The Red Balloon Bookshop,
891 Grand Av., from 6:30 to 8:00 pm on the third Thursday of
every month. The club is sponsored by the Children's Literature Network and the bookstore. Discussions will be
led by Gail Nordstrom, youth services supervisor at the Stillwater public library and a member of the 2002 Newbery Award committee."
If you are planning to be there, would you please contact the store to add your name to the list of attendees. The store
staff would also appreciate receiving your phone number in case they need to contact you if there are any changes
to the plans. You may call the store at (651) 224-8320 or e-mail the store at RedBallBks@aol.com. Please put "Chapter & Verse Book Club" in the "Subject" line if you
decide to send an e-mail.
November 29, 2008:Christy, Emily, and Anne
Woster and Penny Schreck hosted a scrapbooking party to raise
funds for the Leaskdale Manse and Church.
November 8:The first meeting of the
LMMontgomery Literary Society for the 2008-9 season was held Saturday, November 8, at 1 pm at the Serendipity Cafe in Andover.
Our topic of discussion was the recent LM Montgomery Conference held in Guelph, Ontario, which five of our local members attended.
[for more details, go to The Shining Scrolls Online Link and read the December 2008 edition of The Shining
Scroll]
Much attention was given to Mary Rubio's new LMM biography -- The Gift of Wings -- and her presentation about it at the Conference. One of the most poignant discussions was in regard to the
details of LMM's death. Kate Macdonald, LMM's granddaughter, recently announced that her grandmother committed suicide;
Mary's account leaves that opinion in some doubt.
More discussion around other papers given at the Conference
-- Betsy Epperly's comments on digitizing archival material, Elizabeth Waterston's analysis of LMM's handwritten manuscript
of Rillaof Ingleside, Elaine Crawford's report on her family's publication of Aunt Maud's Recipe Book, Irene Gammel's presentation on her new book Looking for Anne, and others -- gave a
chance for those members who could not attend the Conference an idea of what we experienced. We reported on the tours
to Bala, Leaskdale, and Norval; Jack and Linda Hutton's program on the lost 1919 Anne silent movie, and the opening of the
display about LMM at the Guelph art museum.
November
7: Professional storyteller
Pati Kachel had the pleasure of introducing 200 elementary students at Nevada Community School near Ames, Iowa, to Lucy Maud
Montgomery and Anne Shirley. Nevada’s multi-age classroom teachers are strong advocates for inspiring the love of reading
and writing in their students. Their curriculum theme this year is, “Water, Water, Everywhere”. Aware that Maud
loved nature and that she used the imagery of water throughout the Anne book series, Pati crafted an interactive story
program for her young listeners.
Four separate groups of approximately 50
students came to spend an hour with Pati. She dressed up in her Victorian style costume, complete with three layers of petticoats,
pantaloons and laced up boots. The classroom where she gathered the students featured six educational stations of colorful
display boards created by our Minnesota society members. One station featured Emily Woster’s Avonlea School Room display
where children could see and learn about the kind of textbooks, chalkboard slates and toys that children would have used during
the turn of the 20th century. One of Sarah Riedel’s displays provided a good geography lesson with her map of PEI. The
kids enjoyed putting together a large jigsaw floor puzzle of Canada provided by Christy Wooster. The children colored and
made their own flags of Canada to take home. Sarah Riedel’s display board featuring her beautifully taken photographs
of PEI helped the kids to see the wonderful sights of many kinds of water that Maud wrote about. Pati read excerpts from Anne
of Green Gables describing all of the various bodies of water -- the sea, the brooks, the rivers and the lakes on PEI.
Sarah Riedel also created a photo display of the Green Gables House through the years.
In another area Pati displayed her personal scrapbook from her vacation to PEI in 1993, along with dozens of her books
about Montgomery, the island and her treasured collection of Anne Shirley dolls. Pati also brought along her extensive wardrobe
of antique clothing and accessories and invited the kids to walk through her “Victorian Times” corner, where her
students had to use their “museum eyes”. There they could see the vintage fashions described by another one of
Christy Woster’s displays constructed with pages from women’s magazines and catalogs from that period in history.
During their time together, Pati read aloud from Elizabeth McLeod’s book about Lucy Maud Montgomery written especially
for young readers and then had a question and answer time afterwards. She gave
away handouts of her “Ann-with-an-e-isms” - listing all of the funny things Anne Shirley said. She also gave away many copies of the PEI vacation planner catalogs and bookmarks.
But by far, the place that the students enjoyed the most was at the end of each hour when both girls and boys could
put on straw hats with red braids and boyish caps, had freckles painted on their faces, and then had their photos taken with
their classmates. The delightful students and the dedicated teachers of the multi-age learning program of Nevada Elementary
and our traveling storyteller had a wonderful day together. Pati is confident that 200 new Iowan Anne fans were added to our
kindred spirits club that day!
October 15: Christy Woster was the speaker
at an Anne of Green Gables tea held on at the Brooklyn Park, Minnesota Community Center. Sixty people attended. Christy
and Penny Schreck set up a display of dolls, old books and information on L. M. Montgomery, and Christy did a presentation
about the author. A lunch was served and participants brought their own teacups, which made the beautifully set tables even
more festive. A special thank you to Pat Busch, Adult and Senior Center Activity Director at the Community Center, for doing
an outstanding job setting up the tables, planning lunch and coordinating the event. Ms. Busch has asked Christy to plan another
event with the help of our Literary Society for spring of 2009, and a Mother/Daughter “Anne” tea is in the planning
stages.
July 24, 2008The Red Balloon Bookshop and
the L. M. Montgomery Literary Society, hosted “A Tea Party to Celebrate 100 Years of Anne of Green Gables” at the historic University Club of Saint Paul. A hundred guests attended and
viewed the three rooms of 17 + tables of L.M. Montgomery Literary Society exhibits about the author of Anne of Green
Gables as well as displays of collectible Anne dolls, books about Montgomery, early edition books, several editions of
the new Anne prequel book, and many artifacts related to Anne, Prince Edward Island, and the author.
Our thanks toLMMLS membersSally Rigler
(representing Red Balloon) and Christy Woster for their superb organizing skills.
May 31, 2008The Red Balloon Bookshop staff (Sally Rigler, Amy Baum, and Michelle Cromer-Poiré)hosteda happy
100th Birthday Party for Anne of Green Gables May 31, 2008 at their store on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.Christy Woster and Penny Schreck brought lots of display materials, crafting supplies, and scrapbooks along with
door prizes to give out. Pati Kachel entertained the capacity crowd with stories about LMM and Anne (from Elizabeth McLeod's
new children's biography on LMM and Dierdre Kessler's new Anne of Green Gables for young readers).
Carolyn and Christina signed copies of the new Anne of Green Gables Treasury - Special Commemorative Edition.
Ann Johnson assisted with the display tables. To top off the party, a cake decorated with a picture of the original
Anne of Green Gables book cover was served.
April 19th, 2008
The Literary Society hosted its first Anne event at the Rum River Library. The displays brought in by our members
were attractive, informative, interesting, and impressive. Christy and Emily Woster, and Penny Schreck organized the
day. Sarah and Pat Riedel brought a table full of antique household tools that intrigued children and adults; they also
brought beautiful display cases that held a large number of LMM first editions for the 150 visitors to view. Pati Kachel
did two story-telling events and also provided a large selection of vintage dresses, hats, aprons, gloves, etc., for visitors
to dress up in and have their pictures made. Thanks to Ann Johnson, Carolyn Collins, Christina Eriksson, and Beth Cavert
for helping out.
April 2008 Betty Heath and Ann Johnson designed beautiful Anne displays for their local
libraries in Bayport, Woodbury, and Hastings, Minnesota.
January 5, 2008 The Literary Society met
at the Avalon Tea Room where Pati Kachel did a lovely presentation on Christmas Memories -- lots of nostalgia as well as humor
-- and the tea served by the tearoom was very elegant and tasty. Christy presented a host of ideas for the "Anne Day"
and we brainstormed on additional ideas and details. Those present: Sarah and Patricia Reidel, Beth Cavert, Penny Shreck,
Christy Woster, Anne and Emily Woster, Pati Kachel, Ann Johnson, Carolyn Collins, Corrie Beck, Peggy Yaeger, Joan O'Brien,
and Betty Heath.
Summer 2007Carolyn Collins participated
in Prince Edward Island's "Anne 2008" events by speaking at some community libraries about life on PEI during the time of
L.M. Montgomery's youth and the setting of Anne of Green Gables. Her presentation was "Around the Waterloo Stove:
the Heartbeat of Green Gables." She explained how LMM used the kitchen for writing Anne of Green Gables as
well as the room's function for food preparation, laundry and all the activities that required the iron cook stove in
"Anne's day."
