Publications

Since the early years, publishing has consistently formed an integral component of the society’s activities. From detailed academic post-excavation reports, historical accounts to more accessible guides and pamphlets, the group’s emphasis has primarily been on serious authoritative publications.

The society’s journal Transactions, first produced in 1958, carries reports on members’ historical researches, in total comprising a set of 43 volumes. Commemorating the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of the town, Scarborough 966-1966, a compilation of chapters written by society members and invited academics, became the first modern history of the town to be published. Additionally, researches by society member Keith Johnston into the Scarborough historical pageant of 1912 were published in the 2020 book Restaging the Past: Historical Pageants, Culture and Society in Modern Britain.

A more recent volume is historian Stewart MacDonald’s scholarly and comprehensive narrative of Scarborough during the

World War Two years. This book, titled Scarborough At War, received an endorsing critique as “a balanced and informative account” from the eminent historian Professor Sir Ian Kershaw, one of the world’s leading authorities on the period.