Honouring our history, heritage and heroines

The research conducted in the MLC focuses on the early twentieth-century modern literature and culture within a broad range of topics such as avant-garde literature and art, salon culture, visual culture, Modernism, including Canadian Modernism, popular literary expressions and Canadian women’s cultural heritage. Our mandate is to make our research available to both the scholarly and the general public through exhibitions, publications, and outreach events.

Learn more about our Publications...

Research Themes

The Great War in Literature and Visual Culture

Amid the unprecedented social change of World War I, women renegotiated their identities by dramatically changing the way they engaged with the arts. But how did they do so? And how did everyday citizens engage with the war?

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, considered by many to be the mother of Dada, was a daringly innovative poet and an early creator of junk sculpture. “The Baroness” was best known for her sexually charged, often controversial performances.

Modernism in the World

Recent research has departed from the Euro-centric and national view of Modernism to include approaches and methods studying Modernism across national boundaries and across different art forms to include fashion, dance, performance, technology, and visual culture.

Lucy Maud Montgomery

L.M. Montgomery is perhaps Canada's most important literary export. She was prolific writer of over 500 short stories and poems, and twenty novels, including the beloved Anne of Green Gables.

Canadian Modernism

The works of numerous Canadian authors who lived during the modernist era may well constitute the most central and experimental articulation of Canadian modernism in prose, allowing authors to stage cross-cultural, controversial, and even conflicted identities.

Modernist Biography and Life Writing

Life writing, including autobiographical accounts, diaries, letters and testimonials written or told by women and men whose political, literary or philosophical purposes are central to their lives, has become a standard tool for communication and the dissemination of information.

Featured Exhibition

Threads of History: Repatriating Canadian World War II Quilts

This exhibit highlights a unique chapter in Canadian history featuring quilts made by Canadians to help survivors during the London Blitz.

Partners & Donations

Donations & Funding Partners

We thank all the generous groups and individuals who have helped support the MLC through their donations. Our Funding Partners have helped to support and benefit all the hard work done at the MLC. Without your support and donations, our efforts would not be possible.