Journal Overview

About the Journal

In 1998, the Society began publication of the Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, a successor to both the Collections and the Nova Scotia Historical Review (the NSHR was published by the Nova Scotia Archives). It is published once a year, and is primarily accessible for our members as an electronic copy on the Érudit platform. Back issues of the Journal are available online through ProQuest's CBCA database and EBSCO's America: History and Life. Back issues of the Journal are available for purchase. To check on your membership status or to order a printed copy, please contact the Membership Secretary with your request. For individual article requests, please contact info@rnshs.ca with details.

Mission Statement

The Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society (RNSHS) has advanced scholarship on the history of Nova Scotia since 1998 and in previous forms (the Collections and the Nova Scotia Historical Review) going back until 1878. Its mission is to make articles on a wide spectrum of important and pertinent subjects available to our members and to the broader community. The content of the Journal includes papers read at the Society’s public meetings, and, on a space-available basis, relevant works on the history of Nova Scotia submitted to the Journal but not read before the Society. This publication grew out of decades of publishing the papers read before the Society, but the Journal has taken a step beyond previous publications by requiring the review and revision of papers to bring them all to a similar scholarly standard. It is delivered once annually to all Society members in good standing.

The Journal’s mission is to foster the publication of excellent works on the history of Nova Scotia from both academic and community historians, including special attention to genealogy. It also serves the membership through a summary president’s message and book reviews. All articles and research notes are subject to independent peer review, and genealogies are reviewed to ascertain that all works published are sound, appropriately documented, and of value to our membership. The varied authorship of contributions to the Journal, along with the flexibility that the editorial board exercises regarding types of submissions, allows the Journal to make academic works available to the broader regional community, to nurture the scholarship of graduate students, and to encourage community historians to share their work with the Society. Both the discussions at the Society’s meetings and the peer review process contribute to the published articles: providing valuable critiques, new insights, and guidance to sources and questions to help authors to develop their work to the highest standard possible.

People: Blueprint of a photograph of a group of Canadian Civil Engineers. Photo courtesy of the NS Archive

Editorial board

Editor:  Mathias Rodorff, editor@rnshs.ca

Managing Editor:  Alex Myrick, editor@rnshs.ca

Genealogy Editor:

Book Review Editor:  Robert Berard, bookrevieweditor@rnshs.ca

Copy Editor:  Elizabeth Eve, info@rnshs.ca

Vice-President Publications:  James White, info@rnshs.ca

Advisory board

  • Joanne Collins-Gonsalves

  • Anne Marie Lane Jonah

  • Stephen Henderson

  • John Reid

  • Shirley Tillotson

  • Deborah Trask

  • James Morrison