Acadiensis

Acadiensis
source
Title	Acadiensis
Discipline	Canadian history
Abbreviation	Acadiensis
Publisher	Mount Allison University Press
Country	Canada
Frequency	Biannual
History	1901–present

Acadiensis

Acadiensis is a scholarly journal focusing on Atlantic Canadian history linked to institutions such as Mount Allison University, Dalhousie University, University of New Brunswick, Saint Mary's University, and Memorial University of Newfoundland. Established during the early 20th century alongside initiatives from Bibliothèque nationale de France-era collectors and regional societies like the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society and the New Brunswick Historical Society, the journal has engaged scholars associated with Harvard University, University of Toronto, McGill University, Queen's University, and Oxford University.

History

Founded in the context of debates involving figures from the Confederation era and regional movements like the Maritime Rights Movement, the journal emerged when archivists from Public Archives of Nova Scotia and librarians at the Library and Archives Canada sought venues for research on the Acadian Expulsion and the Fenians. Early editorial correspondents included historians influenced by scholarship from Frederick Jackson Turner circles and archival practices found at The National Archives (UK). Over successive decades Acadiensis published studies intersecting with events such as the Treaty of Utrecht, the Seven Years' War, the War of 1812, and the First World War, while engaging biographers of figures like Samuel de Champlain, Edward Cornwallis, Charles Tupper, Joseph Howe, and Alexander Mackenzie. During the postwar period the journal reflected historiographical shifts linked to members of the Royal Society of Canada and to transatlantic exchanges with scholars at Sorbonne University, University of Edinburgh, and Yale University.

Editorial and Publication Details

Acadiensis has appeared under the auspices of university presses and historical societies, coordinated in part by staff at Mount Allison University and editorial boards including representatives from Saint Mary's University and University of New Brunswick. Editors have included academics trained at Harvard University, University of Toronto, McGill University, Princeton University, and University of Cambridge. The journal is distributed through networks connected to the Canadian Historical Association, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and library consortia such as the Canadian Association of Research Libraries and the Association of Research Libraries. Production has adhered to peer review practices akin to those at The Economic History Review and The Journal of Modern History, and indexing in services like JSTOR, Project MUSE, and the Web of Science has linked it to global research infrastructures. Special issues have been co-published with institutions like the Nova Scotia Museum and the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.

Scope and Content

Articles in Acadiensis cover regional studies that connect to topics including colonial settlement by figures such as Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, Jean Talon, and Lord Dalhousie, maritime industries involving ports like Halifax, Nova Scotia, Saint John, New Brunswick, and St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, and cultural histories related to communities descended from Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, Mi'gmaq leaders and settler groups including Acadians, Scottish Highlanders, Irish immigrants, and Loyalists who boarded ships like those involved in the Great Upheaval. The journal publishes archival discoveries, quantitative studies drawing on census data from Statistics Canada, and historiographical essays responding to works by scholars associated with Eric Hobsbawm, E.P. Thompson, W. A. Mackintosh, and those influenced by debates at conferences such as the Canadian Historical Association Annual Meeting and the Atlantic Canada Studies Conference. Topics have ranged from fisheries disputes influenced by the Cod Wars and trade patterns linked to the Atlantic Triangle and the British Empire to social histories of port cities during the Great Depression and industrial transformations connected to companies like Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation.

Reception and Impact

Acadiensis has been cited in monographs published by presses including University of Toronto Press, McGill-Queen's University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Oxford University Press, and reviewed in periodicals like The Canadian Historical Review and History Today. The journal's research has influenced public history projects at institutions such as the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site, the Beaubassin Historical Society, and the Grosse Île and the Irish Memorial National Historic Site of Canada, contributing to exhibits on events such as the Expulsion of the Acadians and commemorations of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Policy makers in provincial legislatures of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador have drawn on its work for heritage planning, and heritage NGOs like the Heritage Canada Foundation and Canadian Museums Association have engaged with its scholarship. Its articles have been incorporated into curricula at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Saint Mary’s University, Acadia University, University of New Brunswick, and Mount Allison University.

Notable Contributors and Articles

Contributors to Acadiensis have included historians and archivists who also published monographs with University of Toronto Press, McGill-Queen's University Press, and Harvard University Press, and scholars affiliated with Royal Society of Canada fellowships and the Guggenheim Foundation. Notable authors whose work appeared in the journal include those researching figures like Charles Lawrence (British Army officer), Joseph Howe, Edward Cornwallis, John Cabot, and Samuel Holland, and topics such as the Battle of the Restigouche, the Siege of Louisbourg, the Miramichi Fire (1825), the Great Miramichi Fire, and the Sable Island shipwrecks. Landmark articles addressed the Expulsion of the Acadians, the Fisheries Act (1985), demographic shifts evident in Census of Canada (1871), and labor histories tied to unions like the United Mine Workers of America and maritime organizations such as the Seafarers' International Union. The journal has featured archival editions of letters by figures connected to James Wolfe, Jean-Baptiste Cope, Thomas Pickett, and ship manifests from voyages to Louisbourg.

Category:Academic journals