Gustave Lanctot , also spelled Gustave Lanctôt, (5 July 1883 – 2 February 1975) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

historian and

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

. Born in Saint-Constant,

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, he studied law at

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

and was called to the Quebec Bar in 1907. A

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

, he studied political science and history from 1909 to 1911 while at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. He was also a member of the Oxford Canadians ice hockey team. In 1912, he joined the National Archives of Canada. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served in the

Canadian Expeditionary Force The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF; French: ''Corps expéditionnaire canadien'') was the expeditionary warfare, expeditionary field force of Canada during the First World War. It was formed on August 15, 1914, following United Kingdom declarat ...

. After the war, he received a PhD from the Sorbonne and later returned to the National Archives eventually becoming Dominion Archivist from 1937 to 1948. He also taught at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

. A historian, he wrote many books including ''L'Administration de la Nouvelle-France'' (1929), ''Le Canada d'hier et d'aujourd'hui'' (1934), ''Montréal au temps de la Nouvelle-France, 1642-1760'' (1942), ''Trois ans de guerre, 1939-1942'' (1943), ''L'Oeuvre de la France en Amérique du Nord'' (1951), ''Histoire du Canada'' (winner of the 1963 Governor General's Award for French language non-fiction), ''Le Canada et la Révolution américaine'' (1965, and winner of the inaugural Albert B. Corey Prize in 1967) and ''Montréal sous Maisonneuve, 1947-1965'' (1966). He also was a historical advisor on eight Canadian films produced from 1961 to 1964. He was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

in 1926, was awarded the J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal, and was its

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from 1948 to 1949. On July 6, 1967, he was one of the first people to be made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

(then called a Service Medal). The citation read "Renowned historian whose "Histoire du Canada" marks the culmination of a life devoted to knowledge of Canada's past". He also was made a Knight of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

Order of Canada medal auction

In late 2006 and early 2007, Lanctot made the news concerning his Order of Canada medal which was put up for auction on

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. It was later removed since the auction is against eBay rules. However, the auction appeared to proceed via

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References

Fonds Gustave Lanctôt at Library and Archives Canada

* ttps://archive.today/20070930043852/http://gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=2101 Order of Canada citation
Order of Cda. medal auction to proceed by e-mail

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lanctot, Gustave 1883 births 1975 deaths Canadian archivists 20th-century Canadian civil servants Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian Rhodes Scholars Canadian military personnel of World War I Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Officers of the Order of Canada Writers from Quebec Université de Montréal alumni Academic staff of the University of Ottawa University of Paris alumni Governor General's Award–winning non-fiction writers Canadian writers in French Knights of the Legion of Honour People from Saint-Constant, Quebec 20th-century Canadian historians Winners of the Prix Broquette-Gonin (literature) Presidents of the Canadian Historical Association Canadian King's Counsel Librarians and Archivists of Canada