Gustave Lanctot

Who was Gustave Lanctot?

Gustave Lanctot, OC MSRC, also spelled Gustave Lanctôt, was a Canadian historian and archivist.

Born in Saint-Constant, Quebec, he studied law at Université de Montréal and was called to the Quebec Bar in 1907. A Rhodes Scholar, he studied political science and history from 1909 to 1911 while at Oxford University. 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, he served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

After the war, he received a Ph.D. 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.

A historian, he wrote many books including L'Administration de la Nouvelle-France, Le Canada d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, Montréal au temps de la Nouvelle-France, 1642-1760, Trois ans de guerre, 1939-1942, L'Oeuvre de la France en Amérique du Nord, Histoire du Canada, Le Canada et la Révolution américaine et Montréal sous Maisonneuve, 1947-1965. He also was a historical advisor on eight Canadian films produced from 1961 to 1964.