Piers was an active writer publishing on a wide range of subject from the history of the military to the habits of the winter wren, a tiny bird found in Nova Scotia forests.

In 1893 he edited Mary Jane Katzmann's Akins Prize-winning History of the Townships of Dartmouth, Preston and Lawrencetown, Halifax County, N.S.

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.".

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.

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.