Gibson, Frederick Wellington

Gibson, Frederick Wellington (1920-1992) was born in Kingston. He earned a BA from Queen's in 1942 and an MA in history in 1944. After a brief period of graduate work at Harvard, he worked at the Public Archives of Canada and was selected by Prime Minister Mackenzie King in 1946 as an assistant in sorting his private papers for his memoirs. He returned to Queen's in 1952, where he taught Canadian history until his retirement in 1986. He served as Queen's first Vice-Principal (Academic) from 1966 to 1969 and won the Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence in 1985. He was also well known as the university's official historian. With fellow history professor Roger Graham, he co-edited Queen's University, volume I: 1841-1917, after the death of author Hilda Neatby. The second volume, Queen's University, Volume II, 1917-1961, he wrote himself. In 1991 he earned an honorary Doctorate of Laws. He died in 1992.