Industry rediscovered: technical knowledge as critical to understanding industrial sites in Eastern Canada I

It is widely accepted that understanding a historic place is a critical first step to guide subsequent management and conservation. Industrial sites present a number of challenges as understanding their form, function, design, boundaries, and conservation often requires a high degree of technical expertise and experience. In Canada, gaining this expertise and information sharing is hampered by a limited number of institutions offering training in industrial archaeology and the lack of a national professional and avocational organization. Additionally, legislation to protect and conserve heritage properties is inconsistent across the provinces and territories, and land-use planning will sometimes fail to appreciate the scale of industrial sites or their capacity for adaptive re-use. To address these challenges, this session will bring together industrial archaeologists and heritage planners from across eastern Canada to reflect on the importance of resource-specific technical knowledge, as well as best practice approaches for conserving and interpreting industrial heritage.

This session was originally proposed by Henry Cary