As the journal of the Verein für Nassauische Altertumskunde und Geschichtsforschung e.V. Wiesbaden, the Nassauische Annalen has been publishing articles on the history of the former Nassau regions since 1827.

As the association had the right to carry out archaeological excavations, the initial thematic focus was on reports on excavation results from burial mounds, hill forts and caves (conservator August von Cohausen, museum director Emil Ritterling, Robert Bodewig, Karl Rossel and others). In addition, authors with a focus on regional and local history devoted themselves to the evaluation of written sources in archives, such as pastor Christian Daniel Vogel, grammar school professor Friedrich Otto, the archivists Christian Spielmann, Herbert Müller-Werth, Wilhelm Becker, Max Domarus, Wilhelm Sauer, Emil Schaus, Paul Wagner and the librarian Gottfried Zedler. The range of topics expanded to include art history, heraldry, folklore, economic and social history, biographies, genealogies of local noble families, political history and much more.

Since 1950, each volume has contained literature reviews, necrologies and reports on the scientific activities of the association and its branches. The association and its branches. From 1952, the series "Zur nassauischen Ortsgeschichte" and "Zur nassauischen Adelsgeschichte" appeared regularly, almost all of which were written by archivist Hellmuth Gensicke. From 1953 to 1958, short author papers on unprinted dissertations were published. From 1952 to 2007, a journal review for Nassau and neighboring areas was regularly compiled (Otto Renkhoff 1952-1971, Wolf-Heino Struck 1972-1978, Wolfgang Podehl 1979-2007).

Long-standing association secretaries who were responsible for publishing the Nassauische Annalen: Reverend Johann Christian Reinhard Luja (1812-1828), archivist Friedrich Gustav Habel (1828-1851), library secretary Dr. Heinrich Schalk (1860-1875), grammar school teacher Dr. Eduard Widmann (1880-1885), librarian Dr. Gottfried Zedler (1897-1921), Prof. Adolf Bach (1921-1927), grammar school professor Dr. Heinrich Otto (1927-1933), student councillor Dr. Carl Heiler (1933-1938), archive director Dr. Otto Renkhoff (1938-1971), Ltd. archive director Prof. Wolf-Heino Struck (1971-1978), senior archive councillor Dr. Hans-Joachim Häbel (1978-2009) and Dr. Rouven Pons (since 2010).