No modern, comprehensive, scholarly history of Halifax exists. An informal but generally sound account of Halifax's development is provided by T.H. Raddall, Halifax, Warden of the North (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1971; revised ed., available in paperback). L.W. Collins, In Halifax Town: on going for a walk in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Halifax: L.W. Collins, 1975; a paperback), offers a lively and informative tour of the city. Equally useful for visual detail is the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia publication, Founded on a Rock: Historic Buildings of Halifax and Vicinity Standing (Halifax: 1967; a paperback). Additional visual material can be obtained from Charles deVolpi, Nova Scotia, a Pictorial Record: Historical Prints and Illustrations of the Province of Nova Scotia, Canada 1605-1878 (Don Mills, Ont.: Longman Canada, 1974). Antiquarian detail appears in J.P. Martin, The Story of Dartmouth (Dartmouth: 1957). For oral tradition, see W.C. Borrett, Historic Halifax in Tales Told under the Old Town Clock (Toronto: Ryerson, 1948). For assistance in placing Halifax within a broader historical context, consult W.S. MacNutt, The Atlantic Provinces: the Emergence of Colonial Society, 1712-1857 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1965; Canadian Centenary Series; available in paperback); G.A. Rawlyk, ed., Historical Essays on the Atlantic Provinces (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1967; Carleton Library no. 35; a paperback); W.B. Hamilton, Local History in Atlantic Canada (Toronto: Macmillan, 1974); C.P. Stacey, "Halifax as an international strategic factor, 1749-1949," Canadian Historical Association, Report of the Annual Meeting, 1949, 46-56; Harry Piers, The Evolution of the Halifax Fortress, 1749-1928 (Halifax: Public Archives of Nova Scotia, 1947; Publication no. 7); J.M.S. Careless, "Aspects of metropolitanism in Atlantic Canada," in Mason Wade, ed., Regionalism in the Canadian Community, 1867 1967 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969; Canadian Historical Association Centennial Seminars), 117-29; and Gilbert A. Stelter, "The historian's approach to Canada's urban past," Histoire Sociale/Social History, VII, no. 13(1974), 5-22.
Specialized studies dealing with the pre-Revolutionary period include W.S. MacNutt, "Why Halifax was founded," Dalhousie Review, Xll (1933/34), 524-32; C.B. Fergusson, "Eighteenth century Halifax," Canadian Historical Association, Report of the Annual Meeting, 1949, 32-39; J.B. Brebner, New England's Outpost, Acadia before the Conquest of Canada (New York: Columbia University Press, 1927); and J.B. Brebner, The Neutral Yankees of Nova Scotia: a Marginal Colony during the Revolutionary Years (New York: Columbia University Press, 1937; reprinted with an introduction by W.S. MacNutt, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1969; Carleton Library no. 45; a paperback). See also the historical novel by T.H. Raddall, His Majesty's Yankees (Garden City: Doubleday, 1942; reprinted with an introduction by James Gray, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977; New Canadian Library no. 133; a paperback).
For developments between the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, see Judith Fingard, The Anglican Design in Loyalist Nova Scotia, 1783-1816 (London: Published for the Church Historical Society by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1972; Church historical series no. 93); Margaret Ells, "Governor Wentworth's patronage," Nova Scotia Historical Society, Collections, XXV (1942), 49-73; Thomas B. Vincent, "Alexander Croke's satire on Halifax society during the Wentworth years," Dalhousie Review, Llll (1973), 404-30; C.H.J. Snider, Under the Red Jack; Privateers of the Maritime Provinces of Canada in the War of 1812 (Toronto: Musson, 1928); Mollie Gillen, The Prince and His Lady: the Love Story of the Duke of Kent and Madame de St Laurent (Toronto: Griffen House, 1970); James St. G. Walker, The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierre Leone, 1783-1870 (New York: Africana Publishing Co., 1976; Dalhousie African Studies series); and T.H. Raddall's two historical novels, The Governor's Lady (London: Collins, 1961; a paperback) and Hangman's Beach (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966; a paperback).
The post-Napoleonic era in Halifax is examined in Joseph Howe: Voice of Nova Scotia, ed. and with an introd. by J. Murray Beck (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1964; Carleton Library no. 20; a paperback); H.K. Grant, Samuel Cunard, Pioneer of the Atlantic Steamship (London: Abelard-Schuman, 1967); G.E. Hart, "The Halifax Poor Man's Friend Society, 1820-27, an Early Social Experiment" Canadian Historical Review, XXXIV (1953), 109-23; C. Bruce Fergusson, "Coke's tour to Halifax," Dalhousie Review, XXIX (1949/50), 51-61; Barbara Grantmyre, "The canal that bisected Nova Scotia," Canadian Geographical Journal, LXXXVIII (1974), 20-27; Judith Fingard, "Attitudes toward the education of the poor in colonial Halifax," Acadiensis, II (1972/73), 15-42; and P.E. McKerrow, A Brief History of the Coloured Baptists of Nova Scotia, 1783-1895, introduced, edited, footnoted and annotated by Frank Stanley Boyd (Halifax: Afro Nova Scotian Enterprises, 1976; available from Afro-Nova Scotian Enterprises, P.O. Box 2128, Dartmouth East Postal Station, Dartmouth, M.S. B2W 3Y2).