Have you ever been to the LaHave Islands Marine Museum on Bell Island? How about the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre in Judique, or the Africville Museum in Halifax? Joan Dawson has. Armed with a spirit of adventure, curiosity, and the belief that “treasures can be found in unlikely places,” the author-historian has scoured Nova Scotia’s National Heritage Sites and community museums for the fifty objects that best “embody the history and culture” of the province.

Casting a wide net, from a pair of good-luck Nantucket Whaler shoes to a Mi-Carême seven-beast mask, Dawson unearths the many arcane and overlooked items whose stories collectively form Nova Scotia’s historical fabric. Entries are arranged in chronological order, from prehistory to present-day, and each one includes a photograph, description, and contextual history of the object. Written in an engaging, narrative style, A History of Nova Scotia in 50 Objects is both a fabulously unique approach to the province’s history and an interactive treasure hunt.

Joan Dawson is a member of the Lunenburg County Historical Society, the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Archaeology Society, and the Antiquarian Club of Halifax, and she is a fellow of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. She has written many articles on maps and local history, co-authored Historic LaHave River Valley, and authored Nova Scotia's Historic Rivers, Nova Scotia's Lost Highways, The Mapmaker's Eye, and The Mapmakers' Legacy. Joan lives in Halifax.

Joan Dawson's profile page