Preserving and promoting the history of Nova Scotia
About the Society
The Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society was founded in 1878. The society meets monthly from September to May, inclusive to hear and to discuss individual papers about personalities, places and events integral to the history of Nova Scotia. Monthly meetings are held at 7:00 pm in the Lindsay Children’s Room on the 2nd floor at the Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Special Statement: RNSHS Letter to Provincial Goverment
The Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society has issued a formal letter to the provincial government expressing deep concern over proposed cuts to heritage programming and the potential closure of twelve provincial museums. Highlighting its 148-year commitment to preserving Nova Scotia's history, the Society argues that these institutions are foundational to the province's identity and that their loss would disproportionately impact the vitality and economic sustainability of rural communities. Under the motto Futura in Historia Vivet (The Future Will Live in History), the RNSHS urges the government to reconsider these decisions and pursue a collaborative plan that safeguards the shared heritage of all Nova Scotians. Click here to view our letter.
Upcoming Lecture
“‘I will try & tell you some of our trouble’: Exploring Contested Truths of Violence and Murder Onboard the Selkirk, 1894” by Grace McNutt
Wednesday, 21 October 2026, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), in-person at the Lindsay Children’s Room on the 2nd floor at the Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Click here for the Zoom link.
Abstract:
In 1894, Patrick Flinn, a sailor employed on the Nova Scotian barque Selkirk, reported to Hong Kong police that the ship’s first mate had thrown a man overboard and that Captain Jim Crowe had abused members of the crew during their passage from New York. What followed was a weeks-long contest of competing stories unfolding in courtrooms, in the Hong Kong press, and in the private letters of Janie Crowe, Jim Crowe’s wife. In this talk, Dr. Grace McNutt traces those surviving records to reconstruct how an alleged murder at sea became a public scandal. Rather than seeking a definitive “truth,” this talk will examine nineteenth-century ideas of “truthfulness”: who did the public in colonial Hong Kong believe at different moments, and why? It will also consider how the central figures in the “Selkirk Scandal” crafted their own credibility, revealing the cultural logics that shaped trust, authority, and reputation in the nineteenth-century British sphere of influence, drawing on notions of gender, sexuality, and nationality.
Dr. Grace McNutt is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Cape Breton University, and in 2027, she will be joining the University of Prince Edward Island as an Assistant Professor of History. She has also been a member of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society’s council since 2022. Her research investigates the gendering of the shipping trade in Atlantic Canada, using women’s firsthand accounts to explore the interplay among sailing, authorship, and gender identity in the nineteenth century.
