When Atlantic Digital Scholarship first began, the goal was to build community through shared interest in the history, people, and culture of Atlantic Canada. Supported by Dr. Elizabeth Mancke, Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canadian Studies at the University of New Brunswick and the second director of the UNB Atlantic Canada Studies Centre, ADS emerged during the Covid-19 Pandemic as a means to encourage the use of digitally available resources for historical research. The Centre, also known as ‘The Lab,’ was always community-focused and centred, providing a space for students at UNB to come together, collaborate, and learn in a safe and supportive space. The Centre under Dr. Mancke’s directorship, and the ADS project that I created and maintained, were recognized for building research and community networks, providing a hub or reference point for others to work together.

In 2024, the former website was decommissioned to preserve the integrity of that work and the relationships built by Dr. Mancke with students, research partners, and collaborators over many years. Although ADS functioned as the official website for the UNB Atlantic Canada Studies Centre, it was my project and a product of my work and research as one of Elizabeth’s students while at UNB. The project and this website are no longer affiliated with UNB.

Looking Ahead

While I am excited to once again showcase some of the excellent regional work available on this platform, in reactivating this site and revisiting this project I also wanted to create a space to publish and share my own work and research after completing my PhD at Dalhousie University. Notably, my new project, The Saint John Customs House Index, which features full transcriptions of the general accounts done by the Treasurer of New Brunswick documenting ships and merchandize arriving to that port. As the principal port for the colony, Saint John was a hub of commercial goods and peoples, connecting the region to the wider British Atlantic. Transcribing the records offers valuable insights into the economic links and significance of trade between the Loyalist City, other major ports on the American seaboard, and the plantation economies of the Caribbean. My hope is to expand this work to encompass similar records and data from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland so to illustrate the economic and political connections that existed between Atlantic Canada and the larger Atlantic world.