The Ontarion has invited writers from the Library, Archival & Special Collections to share stories about the unique pieces housed in the collection. Join us as we explore these fascinating, beautiful, scandalous, and weird bits of history. The items written about in this article are available for consultation in the A&SC Reading Room on the 2nd floor of McLaughlin Library.
by Lara Carleton | Archives Clerk
HOW IS A famous Canadian golf-course architect linked to a beloved Canadian author, all while being housed in the same Archival & Special Collections?
Stanley Thompson (1893–1953), a renowned golf-course architect, established a legacy throughout Canada and beyond. Over the course of his career, Thompson was connected to over 140 golf courses (including Guelph’s own Cutten Fields) spanning three continents either through his designs, constructions, or remodels. Debatably, Thompson’s success came from his respect of natural landscapes and how he seamlessly incorporated golf courses into them.
His most recognized links are not only admired for their difficulty for the golfer, but for the jaw-dropping beauty they are surrounded by. From coast to coast, each course offers a beautiful backdrop whether it be the Rocky Mountains in both Banff Springs Golf Course and Jasper Park Lodge Golf Course, or the ever-changing Cavendish Beach sand dunes at the Green Gables Golf Club.
For an article by Maclean’s Magazine in 1949 (read the full article in the library’s Landscape Architecture Collection), Thompson explained that while working on Green Gables in Prince Edward Island he read Lucy Maud Montgomery’s (1874–1942) classic, Anne of Green Gables (1908). He named some of the course’s fairways after locations in the novel, such as Haunted Wood, Lake of Shining Waters, and Lover’s Lane. The Green Gables Golf Club was completed a decade prior to the interview in 1939.
Maud moved to Ontario in 1911 and only returned to PEI for vacations. Coincidentally, she visited the island in the fall of 1939 and noted in a 1940 letter that a “golf course has been laid out … and experts say it is the most beautiful in North America.” Maud had regularly explored and photographed the Cavendish Beach sand dunes and shores in her earlier years, prior to Thompson’s golf-course.
Wanting another link? Thompson is a descendant of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), a famous Scottish writer, who is included within our Scottish Studies Collection and happened to be a favourite of Maud’s! Our LM Montgomery Collection even includes copies of his works from her personal library.
To learn more about these talented individuals and their respective works, and to see related artifacts, please visit us at Archival & Special Collections (2nd floor, McLaughlin Library).
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