Council 2025-2026

Councillor Profiles

President – Stefanie Slaunwhite
Stefanie Slaunwhite is a PhD candidate in History at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. She is currently completing her dissertation on the Dr. W.F. Roberts Hospital School in Saint John, New Brunswick. 

Past President – Lois Yorke
Lois Yorke is the former Provincial Archivist and Director of the Nova Scotia Archives. A graduate of Dalhousie University, her career spans over four decades as an archivist, editor, researcher, contributor to the national archival community, and consultant in cultural heritage. Now retired, she is giving back through volunteer activities with various organizations, boards and committees, including as President of the RNSHS, 2020-23. Her long-standing interest in feminist history has produced a growing list of work on Nova Scotian women from the 1700s to the 1900s—most recently, the first-ever full biography of Anna Harriette Leonowens, “The English Governess at the Siamese Court”.

Vice President – Programmes – Ronald Blanchard
Ronny is a recent MA history graduate from Dalhousie. His research explores how people from various socio-economic groups in colonial Ghana experienced and navigated social change, such as urbanization and colonialization, through leisure. These themes guide his curiosity in a range of historical periods and topics including Nova Scotian and global history.

Vice President – Publications – Jay White
James (Jay) F.E. White, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in Canadian history from McMaster University (1994). He taught Canadian, U.S. and World History at universities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Washington State. His published articles appeared in Acadiensis, Northern Mariner, Nova Scotia Historical Review and this Journal. His commissioned portfolio includes projects for Nova Scotia Archives, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Parks Canada, Canada Post and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. During the tourist season he keeps busy conducting historical tours for visitors to Nova Scotia.

Vice President – Publicity - Courtney Mrazek
Dr. Courtney Mrazek is a Canadian historian of health who specializes in topics including eugenics, tuberculosis, public health, and settler colonialism in 20th-century Atlantic Canada. She currently holds a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Manitoba under Dr. Stacie Burke, where she is examining sanatoria patient demographics across Canada. 

Treasurer – Dawn Caldwell
Originally from neighbouring New Brunswick, Dawn has lived in Halifax since 1989. Her work experience includes 13 years in the banking industry, 15 years conducting international research and 10 years of retail experience. Dawn's undergraduate degree is in business administration (1982). She also holds a Master of Science in applied epidemiology (2005). 

Recording Secretary – John MacLeod
John Macleod came to history and things historical via a circuitous route.  Academically, John’s chosen field was engineering physics, but he was raised in a family where community groups and local museums were always valued.  His parents dragged him along to Society lectures while still in school, and the exposure stayed with him.  Over the years, John has been the President of the Dartmouth Museum Society, its treasurer, the treasurer of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, and for many years he has been the Secretary of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. John is also currently the manager of the Nova Scotia Archives, and has engaged in some journalism and history work, while also learning French since his time in engineering physics.  A grad of a number of universities, he counts Université Sainte-Anne as his most unique educational experience.

Membership Secretary – Grace McNutt
Dr. Grace McNutt has served as Membership Secretary of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society since 2022. She holds degrees from Cape Breton University (2018), Saint Mary’s University (2020), and Dalhousie University (2025). Her first engagement with the Society began in 2021, when she presented her Master’s research, later publishing an article in the Journal. Nova Scotia has remained central to Grace’s scholarship, which examines the contributions of seafaring women to nineteenth‑century commercial shipping industries. She is currently a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at Cape Breton University.

Assistant Secretary – Mathias Rodorff
Originally from Germany Mathias Rodorff received a joint master’s degree from the University of Freiburg and the University of Basel, in Modern, Social and Economic History, and Media Studies, funded by the European Campus Program (EUCOR). Since 2021 Mathias is the research manager of the Gorsebrook Research Institute for Atlantic Canada Studies at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. Mathias joined the Council of Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society in 2019. In 2021 he was appointed for the newly created position of Managing Editor and two years later he became the editor of the Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society.

Councillor – Alex Myrick
Alex Myrick is a medical historian from St. John’s, Newfoundland. After earning his BA in History at Memorial University of Newfoundland, he relocated to Halifax in 2016 to pursue journalism but soon pivoted back to history. His current focus on the history of psychiatry began during his MA, and continues in his PhD research at the University of Ottawa. Alex has also worked for the Dalhousie Department of Psychiatry and is the managing editor of the Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. He currently resides in Dartmouth with his partner Taylor and their two beloved cats.

Councillor – Wayne Slaunwhite
Wayne Slaunwhite is a retired civil servant and a long-time community historian. His historical interests lie in finding stories in the everyday history in his home province of Nova Scotia. 

Councillor – Raymond Lennark, P.Eng., F.I.C.E.
Born in UK, married with two sons. Emigrated to Nova Scotia over 50 years ago. A Professional Engineer and Fellow of the UK Institution of Civil Engineers. Has worked on major projects in Canada and overseas, including Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe. Fluent in three languages. Retired to Halifax in 2015 to be close to family.

Councillor - Sara Hollett
Sara Hollett has a BA in Atlantic Canada Studies and History from Saint Mary’s University and a MA in Public History from Carleton University. Her MA research focused on the Nova Scotia tourism industry in the 1950s and 1960s. She has worked for the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Library and Archives Canada, Parks Canada, the Council of Nova Scotia Archives, and Fernwood Publishing. Currently, Sara works at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Nova Scotia.

Councillor – Christopher McCreery
Christopher McCreery has served as an advisor to the Canadian and British governments on honours policy. Author of eighteen books, his works, The Canadian Honours System and The Order of Canada, are the principal works on the history of honours in Canada. McCreery has served in various positions in the Senate of Canada and Privy Council Office and is one of the Commonwealth’s foremost scholars on the symbolic and constitutional position of the Crown. Since 2009, he has served as Private Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. From 2012-18, he served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Museum of History. Along with Professor Michael Bliss and Richard Gwyn, he was part of the triumvirate of historians who diversified and made more accessible the museum’s Canada History Hall, which was opened in 2017.