Author. John Hall Archer was a Canadian author, historian, educator, and the first President of the University of Regina. He was a teacher in Saskatchewan's rural districts from 1933 to 1940. During World War II, he served at the rank of Captain with the Royal Canadian Artillery in the United Kingdom, North Africa, and Italy. In 1947, after the war, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947, earned a Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Saskatchewan in 1948, and a Bachelor of Arts in library science from McGill University in 1949. He served as Saskatchewan's Legislative Librarian from 1951 to 1964, Assistant Clerk of the Legislature from 1956 to 1961, and Provincial Archivist from 1957 to 1962. He became Director of Libraries at McGill University from 1964 to 1967, then Archivist and Associate Professor of history at Queen's University, where he earned his PhD in history. He returned to his home province in 1970 as Principal of the Regina campus of the University of Saskatchewan, and served as the first President of the University of Regina from its establishment as an independent institution in 1974 until his retirement in 1976. The library on this campus was named in his honor. He was a well-respected lecturer on the subject of Saskatchewan. During and after his career, he served on numerous Royal commissions, boards and advisory councils, and was a prolific author and editor. Besides numerous published articles, his books include "Land of Promise" in 1969, "Saskatchewan: A History" in 1980, "Honoured with the Burden" in 1987 and, as editor, "One Canada" from 1975 to 1978, the memoirs of John Diefenbaker. He received the Order of Canada and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. He was married for 64 years and the couple had a son and a daughter.