University Histories
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All True Things is a critical history of the genesis and evolution of the University of Alberta and a splendid way to mark the University¹s centennial. Professor Emeritus of History and alumnus, Rod Macleod, relates the University¹s coming of age against the parallel history of the Province of Alberta¹s remarkable growth. All True Things, a variation on the University of Alberta¹s motto, Quęcumque Vera, or, "Whatsoever Things Are True," uncovers times of triumph and trouble by examining key people, circumstances, and decisions of that first century. What emerges is an enduring narrative of an institutional will to thrive and become a vibrant centre of learning. As the University embarks on its second century, this definitive source of information and reflection on institutional history and governance will inspire future leaders and policy makers and delight the University of Alberta¹s many friends far and wide.
392 pages - Over 130 B&W photos, foreword, tables, notes, bibliography, index
University of Alberta Centennial Series 7'' x 10'' - $49.95 (T) cloth 978-0-88864-444-2 Alberta History / History of Education / Universities September 2008.
Rod Macleod was professor of History and Classics at the University of Alberta from 1969 until he retired in 2005. He has written extensively on the history of Western Canada as well as Canadian legal and military history. He is currently the Alberta representative on the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. He lives in Edmonton.
"This book is a critical history of the university. In it my concern has been to understand how it differed from other universities and why it evolved the way it did. In doing the research and writing it became apparent that the history of the university was entwined with the political history of the province. For the first half century it completely dominated the intellectual and cultural history of Alberta. From its inception the university has had a powerful sense of mission, summed best in founding president Henry Marshall Tory's dictum 'the uplifting of the whole people shall be its final goal.' The university's remarkable extension activities led to the founding of CKUA radio and the Banff Centre."
Rod Macleod, April 2008.
Buy this book from the University of Alberta Bookstore
Sit back. Open I Was There on the page of your choice and discover a people's history of the University of Alberta.
I Was There shares the insights and experiences of the generations of students, professors, and staff who lived and worked at the U of A for the past 100 years.
Why go to university, and why the U of A? What have students done with their degrees after graduation? Who was Henry Marshall Tory? Doc Alik? Elizabeth Sterling Haynes? What were the radical 1960s like, and what was student life like in the 1990s? Who would know the answers to these questions better than a century's worth of alumni? After all, they were there to see it happening themselves.
There have been a number of University of Alberta histories, official and unofficial. They are in the form of articles, monographs, and full-length scholarly documents with many footnotes citing sources. All of them have some perspective or bias, but the overwhelming quality they share is a love of the institution. This is the common bond—all of the authors have been touched by the magic of this marvellous institution of higher learning.
Among the first historians was William Hardy Alexander, Professor of Classics. He was one of the first four professors hired by President Henry Marshall Tory on July 6, 1908. His history, The University of Alberta: A Retrospect, was published in 1929. In the intervening years, there have been many more, including University Archivist James McPherson Parker's photo history commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the Province of Alberta in 1980. It was titled simply The University of Alberta 1908–1983. The most apparently scholarly is the work of Walter Johns A History of the University of Alberta 1908–1969. Ellen Schoeck wrote the award-winning alumni history; I Was There: A Century of Alumni Stories about the University of Alberta, 1906–2006. There is also the biography of the University's founding President titled Henry Marshall Tory by Edward Annand Corbett.
Continuing in this tradition, Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Dr Carl Amrhein commissioned Dr Rod Macleod, a history professor, to write the centenary history of the University. As a professional historian, Dr Macleod brings a tradition of scholarly research to bear on the beloved institution. He noted in an interview: "The way I am going to try to approach it is to try and write a history of the University as a community—a community of scholars, researchers, and students and what they did and what they have done over the years."
View the oral history interview with Dr Macleod.
The early histories of the University can be found in the Digital Archives under the heading University Histories.