The Expert on Maud’s Years Before Anne the Author

http://anneofgreengables.com/articles/the-expert-on-mauds-years-before-anne/

The Expert on Maud’s Years Before Anne

the Author

When researching the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery, including her journals, photos and letters, it never really dawned on me that a man was behind many of the texts that have been compiled about her – let alone a priest.

Father Francis Bolger is responsible for making the famous author more accessible to her fans and readers.  Many of his works have been used in countless blogs on anneofgreengables.com, including My Dear Mr. M: Letters to G.B. MacMillan from L.M. Montgomery, which is filled with letters written by Maud to her Scottish pen pal, as well as Spirit of Place – a lovely book full of photos of Prince Edward Island and quotes from Maud about her favourite haunts there.

But it is fitting that Father Bolger should write about the island and its famous authoress, considering he was born in 1925 near Stanley Bridge (the bridge after which Maud named her titled character, Sara Stanley, in The Story Girl), which is not very far from Maud’s own birthplace.

In his lifetime, Father Bolger completed a teaching certificate, arts degree, theological studies, and a doctorate in Canadian History, at four separate colleges and universities.  He thereafter became an expert on P.E.I. and even wrote books about the island’s history – Prince Edward Island and Confederation, 1863-1873 and Canada’s Smallest Province.  He received the Order of Canada in 1994.

But the trigger for his in-depth interest in the author of Anne of Green Gables came when a man from New Glasgow approached him, having found letters in his attic from Maud addressed to her old childhood friend Penzie Macneill.  The project that stemmed from this discovery resulted in Bolger’s 1974 book, The Years Before “Anne”, which is said to be “one of the best introductions to Maud Montgomery’s life and world”.  The special part about this book is that it actually used Maud’s own records to put forward her biography and project her development as a writer.

Since then, Father Bolger has been the chairman of the Lucy Maud Montgomery Foundation Board and was also the representative of P.E.I. for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.  He has also played a huge role in putting together the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of P.E.I. and had a major part in organizing the two Montgomery conferences in 1994 and 1996.  He is pictured above at the 1994 conference.

Just as Montgomery was an important part of his life, Father Bolger played an integral role in helping Maud’s admirers better appreciate her work.

Sent from my iPhone