Harry Piers

{{Short description|Canadian historian}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Harry Piers

| image = HarryPiersNovaScotiaMuseum.jpg

| caption = Harry Piers, Harry Piers Room, Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1870|2|12}}

| birth_place = Halifax, Nova Scotia

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1940|1|24|1870|2|2}}

| nationality = Canadian

| occupation = Historian

| spouse = Constance Fairbanks

}}

Harry Piers (1870–1940) was a Canadian historian. He was a long-serving and influential historian and curator at the Nova Scotia Museum in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Piers was born on February 12, 1870, in Halifax.

He became the second curator of the Nova Scotia Museum in 1899, when he succeeded David Honeyman. Piers also served as librarian of the Provincial Science Library from 1900 and as Deputy Keeper of Public Records of Nova Scotia from 1899 until 1931, when the Public Archives of Nova Scotia opened. He did extensive work with Jerry Lonecloud documenting Mi'kmaq people's culture and history. He died on January 24, 1940, and is buried in Halifax at Camp Hill Cemetery. He was succeeded as curator of the Nova Scotia Museum by Donald Crowdis.

File:Line drawing of principal forts, blockhouses, and batteries of Halifax's early defences, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.png

Piers was an active writer, publishing on a wide range of subjects, from the history of the military to the habits of the winter wren, a tiny bird found in Nova Scotia forests. His last book, "The Evolution of the Halifax Fortress 1749-1928," was published in 1947 just after his death and played a key role in restoring the Halifax Citadel and York Redoubt.{{Cite web |url=http://gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/piers/harrypiers.asp |title="Who was Piers", Harry Piers Museum Maker, Nova Scotia Archives |access-date=2013-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617051621/http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/Piers/harrypiers.asp |archive-date=2013-06-17 |url-status=dead }}

Piers was also known for his assistance to other authors. In 1893 he edited Mary Jane Katzmann's Akins Prize-winning History of the Townships of Dartmouth, Preston and Lawrencetown, Halifax County, N.S. posthumously for publication."Lois K. Kernaghan, "[http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5617&&PHPSESSID=ychzfqkvzape Katzmann, Mary Jane (Lawson)]", Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, Web, May 5, 2011. History and fiction writer Thomas Raddall received crucial encouragement and assistance from Piers, who became Raddall's mentor for historical research.Thomas Raddall, In My Time McClellend and Steward (1976 ), p. 116

File:Susan Sack, Harry Piers, and Henry Sack on Indian Point, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1935.jpg

Piers worked with precision and diligence for many years as virtually a one-man museum for Nova Scotia. His obituary in the Halifax Chronicle Herald noted, "Many called him a 'human book of knowledge'. His tall stately figure was familiar in the community life of Halifax, and he played a prominent role in numerous activities in the City and Province.".Halifax Chronicle Herald January 24, 1940 Piers' museum work was multi-disciplinary, collecting artifacts and specimens for human and natural history. His collection documentation set high standards of research and description that were ahead of their time and stand out today as instructive examples of museum work. A Parks Canada historian in recent times lauded him as a "renaissance man of this province's cultural history. It matters not where the modern researcher penetrates — history, archaeology, material culture, geology, botany — it is almost certain that you will find his footprint of decades ago. At a time when nobody else cared, he and his museum did, and between them they preserved and recorded much that would otherwise have vanished utterly."William D. Naftel, ‘’Prince Edward's Legacy, The Duke of Kent in Halifax: Romance and beautiful buildings’‘ Formac, Halifax (2005)

He was a long-term member of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society.