Albert Trueman

{{Short description|Canadian academic (1902–1988)}} {{For|the English footballer|Bert Trueman}} {{Infobox person | name = Albert Trueman | image = Albert William Trueman 1947.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Albert William Trueman | birth_date = {{birth-date|January 17, 1902}} | birth_place = Waverly, Pennsylvania<ref>[http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/trueman_aw.shtml "Memorable Manitobans: Albert William Trueman (1902-1988)"], Manitoba Historical Society</ref> | death_date = {{death-date|June 29, 1988}} (aged 86) | death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | other_names = | known_for = National Film Board of Canada, Canada Council, University of Manitoba, University of New Brunswick, University of Western Ontario, Carleton University | alma_mater = Mount Allison University, Oxford University | occupation = teacher, professor, cultural and university administrator }} '''Albert William Trueman''', OC, FRSC (January 17, 1902 – June 29, 1988) was an American-born Canadian teacher, professor, cultural and university administrator.

==Early life== Trueman was born in the United States, where his New Brunswick-born father John Main Trueman taught at the University of Connecticut between 1907 and 1913. The family lived in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia after 1913, where his father taught at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College.<ref>A. W Trueman, ''A Second View of Things: A Memoir'', McClelland and Stewart, 1982, p. 13</ref> Trueman attended high school in Truro, Nova Scotia and graduated from Mount Allison University in 1927. He finished his Master of Arts degree in English Literature at Exeter College, Oxford University in 1932.

==Career== Trueman was a high school teacher, and then became school superintendent in Saint John, New Brunswick.<ref name="Duckworth2000">{{cite book|author=Henry E. Duckworth|title=One Version of the Facts: My Life in the Ivory Tower|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFqYGaKzhq8C&pg=PA93|year=2000|publisher=Univ. of Manitoba Press|isbn=978-0-88755-352-3|pages=93–}}</ref> He later worked a university administrator, serving as President of the University of Manitoba between 1945 and 1948, and President of the University of New Brunswick from 1948 until 1953.<ref name="Helmer2014">{{cite book|author=Paul Helmer|title=Growing with Canada: The ƒmigrŽ Tradition in Canadian Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FMy7gLCVSb8C&pg=PA133|date=22 June 2014|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP|isbn=978-0-7735-7624-7|pages=133–}}</ref> He was principal and dean of University College at the University of Western Ontario from 1965 until 1967. He was chancellor of the University of Western Ontario from 1967 until 1971. He returned to academic life and had an extended term as visiting professor of English at Carleton University in Ottawa from 1967 to 1981.<ref>Staff Writer. "Former NFB Chairman Known as Great Educator", Ottawa, ON: ''The Ottawa Citizen'', Monday, July 4, 1988, p. C2.</ref>

Trueman acted as Government Film Commissioner and Chairman of the National Film Board of Canada from 1953 to 1957,<ref name="Evans1991">{{cite book|author=Gary Evans|title=In the National Interest: A Chronicle of the National Film Board of Canada from 1949 to 1989|url=https://archive.org/details/innationalintere0000evan|url-access=registration|year=1991|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-6833-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/innationalintere0000evan/page/47 47]}}</ref> and then as the first Director of the newly created Canada Council for the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, serving from 1957 to 1965.<ref name="Fisher2006">{{cite book|author=Donald Fisher|title=The Social Sciences in Canada: 50 Years of National Activity by the Social Science Federation of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8lg9DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA41|date=1 January 2006|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press|isbn=978-0-88920-800-1|pages=41–}}</ref> In these positions, he made contributions to Canadian cultural policies, primarily by promoting the roles and influence of both agencies. He also served on the Board of Governors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

Trueman was given many honorary degrees. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 1964, and was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1974.

Trueman wrote and edited several books, including ''A Second View of Things: A Memoir'' in 1982.<ref>Christopher Young, "Government Interference in the Canada Council Goes Back Decades", Montreal, PQ: ''The Gazette'', Thursday, August 8, 1985, P. B1.</ref><ref>Staff Writer. "Former NFB Chairman Known as Great Educator", Ottawa, ON: ''The Ottawa Citizen'', Monday, July 4, 1988, p. C2.</ref><ref>Judy Creighton, "Trueman Loves Leisure", Windsor, ON: ''Windsor Star'', Thursday, July 30, 1992, p. C9.</ref> His son Peter Trueman, was a well-known television journalist.

==Publications==

* Trueman, A. W. (1946). ''The Story of the United Empire Loyalists'', Toronto, ON: Copp Clark Co. * MacNutt, W. Stewart (1952), edited by A.W. Trueman. ''New Brunswick and Its People: The Biography of a Canadian Province '', Fredericton, NB: New Brunswick Travel Bureau * Trueman, A. W. (1952). ''Canada's University of New Brunswick: Its History and Its Development'', New York & Montreal: Newcomen Society in North America. * Trueman, A. W., Canadian Editor, with Wright, E.H. and Wright, M. H. (1957). ''Richards Topical Encyclopedia'', New York, NY: Richards Company. * Trueman, A. W., Davies, Robertson, Berton, Pierre; edited by D.C. Williams (1962). ''The Arts as Communication'', Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press. * Trueman, A. W. (1963). ''The Canada Council and the Culture of the Country'', Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria * Trueman, Albert (1982). ''A Second View of Things: A Memoir'', Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart.<ref name="Giffen2004">{{cite book|author=P. James Giffen|title=Rural Life: Portraits of the Prairie Town, 1946|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jfi_V8tBpbQC&pg=PA241|year=2004|publisher=Univ. of Manitoba Press|isbn=978-0-88755-363-9|pages=241–}}</ref>{{ISBN|0-7710-8638-5}}

==Films== * ''The Maritimes: Traditions and Transitions'' (NFB short, 1959) on-screen presenter and narrator

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/albert-william-trueman "Albert William Trueman"], ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' *[http://www.rsc.ca//index.php?page=proceedings_2002&lang_id=1&page_id=193 Royal Society of Canada: Biographical Sketches of Deceased Fellows (downloadable PDF file) - includes Official Obituary of Albert W. Trueman]

==Further reading== Peter Trueman, "Albert William Trueman, 1902-1988", Ottawa, ON: ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of Canada, Seventh Series, Volume 1'', 2002

{{s-start}} {{s-culture}} {{succession box|title=Government Film Commissioner and <br>Chairperson of the National Film Board of Canada|before=William Arthur Irwin|after=Guy Roberge|years=1953-1957}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trueman, Albert}} Category:1902 births Category:1988 deaths Category:Canadian non-fiction writers Category:Academic staff of Carleton University Category:Chancellors of the University of Western Ontario Category:University of Western Ontario people Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:Mount Allison University alumni Category:Government film commissioners and chairpersons of the National Film Board of Canada Category:Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Category:University of Manitoba Category:Presidents of the University of New Brunswick Category:20th-century non-fiction writers Category:Canadian expatriates in the United States Category:Academic staff of the University of Ottawa