From Pulp and Paper to Community Hub

During the month of December I am participating in #reverb14 as a means of getting my writing habits back on track. I will be altering the prompts as needed to fit within the scope of this blog. Today's prompt is: When did you feel beautiful this year? Why? Altered prompt: Discuss a beautiful heritage project or site from the past year.



St Marys Pulp and Paper Complex

One of the most inspiring revitalization projects in my community this past year has been the transformation of the St. Mary's Paper Mill site. Initially known as the Sault Ste. Marie Pulp and Paper Company, which was built by Francis H. Clergue in 1895, the site remained operational until St. Mary's Paper went bankrupt in 2011. A shot history of the pulp and paper industry in Sault Ste Marie can be found here.

Riversedge Developments purchased the site in 2012 and since that time the site has undergone significant revitalization. Much of the unique architecture found on the site has been preserved and there are plans for the site to be developed as a cultural and tourism hub.

The first phase of the project has seen the opening of the Mill Market in the former Board Mill Building, the former machine shop being developed as a concert venue, and the Algoma Conservatory of Music moving into the old administration building.

The site is being used for both public and private events and is slowly integrating itself into community life. It is great to see the revitalization of this industrial site and the preservation of such an important piece of heritage. Overall this is a great example of adaptive reuse of an industrial heritage site.

Public History and Environmental Engagement: Scotland's Coastal Heritage

The recent special issue of The Public Historian focused on public history and environmental sustainability.  This issue builds on the sustainable public history theme that was the focus of the 2014 National Council on Public History conference and the digital collection Public History in a Changing Climate which appeared on the Public History Commons.  The special journal issue contains a number of interesting articles on the desire to engage the public with environmental history and a changing environmental landscape. 

The article "A View from Scotland's Coast" by Tom Dawson which looks at coastal erosion and the impact of erosion of heritage sites provides a glimpse into the potential of engaging the public in issues of heritage, climate change, and natural heritage. 

Dawson's writing focuses on the work of the Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion Trust (SCAPE Trust) and highlights examples of coastal erosion's impact of heritage sites in Scotland.  For example, in Bora, a small coastal town in Northern Scotland, industrial buildings from the sixteenth century were uncovered on the coast.  Beginning in 2004 SCAPE worked with the local community and organizations to excavate buildings and begin to document the site.  However in 2012 a winter storm destroyed the sixteenth-century salt pans that had been uncovered.  All that remained were piles of ruble on a beach below.

This and other examples of heritage sites endangered by coastal erosion reminded me a lot of my trip to Ireland.  While touring the Dingle Peninsula there were a number of site that had been partially destroyed be erosion or were at risk because of the changing shoreline.  I remember thinking at the time about what could be done to save such sites, particularly in a country that is filled with similar heritage structures.

Dawson argues that "being able to demonstrate the value of an asset is key to getting the item preserved, or at least recorded before it is destroyed."  Heritage sites need to advocate for the value of their existence and preservation, especially if an economic advantage to preserving the site isn't immediately apparent. 

SCAPE believes that involving communities and local populations in archaeological and preservation projects is key, "working directly with heritage gives people a greater understanding of its importance, and this appreciation spreads through the community and beyond"  Additionally local residents often hold valuable knowledge which has been passed down through generations about local heritage sites, landscape changes, and past events. 

SCAPE's development of the Scotland's Coastal Heritage at Risk Project (SCHARP) highlights a collaborative effort to engage communities in preservation.  The project relies on the public to update and correct information collected via coastal surveys and report any changes to the sites.  The SCHARP project website includes data for 12,000 coastal sites and invites the public to update information based on local knowledge.  The site is relatively user friendly and interesting to explore even for those without a local connection to Scotland.

SCAPE also asks community members to nominate sites for preservation.  Though the ShoreDig project SCAPE works with communities to facilitate community excavation and to encourage engagement with threatened local heritage. 

Dawson's work highlights the crucial role the public has to play in the preservation of coastal heritage.  Community engagement is essential to assessment of local heritage sites and working with the public can help preserve information and sites which would otherwise be lost in changing landscapes.

Books and Built Heritage: Trinity College Dublin

Long Room at Trinity College Dublin

I recently spent two weeks in Ireland.  This trip included a number of visits to museums, historical sites, and natural heritage places.  This post is the first of many recounting my experiences at these heritage spaces.  

One of the things I had been looking forward to prior to my trip to Ireland was visiting Trinity College Dublin and the Book of Kells exhibit there.  The Trinity College campus is beautiful and many of the residences and classroom buildings are great examples of the preservation of built heritage in Dublin.  For example, the Old Library building which houses the Book of Kells exhibit was constructed in the 1800s and much of the interior and exterior remains true to the original construction.

The actual exhibit which leads up to the Book of Kells is fairly interesting.  It focuses broadly on the book making process, scribes, material usage and providing context to the 9th century origins of the Book of Kells.  Though this information was interesting the layout of the "Turning Light into Darkness" exhibit was confusing and didn't allow for great traffic flow.  Considering the popularity of the Book of Kells I was surprised by how small of an exhibit space is devoted to contextualizing the book.

Following the opportunity to look at a page from the Book of Kells, the Book of Armagh, and the Book of Durrow (or similar texts depending on the days rotation) visitors can do up to the Long Room.  I enjoyed this part of the visit much more than the actual Book of Kells exhibit.  The Long Room is a beautiful old library that houses special collection manuscripts.  The Long Room also includes a number of display cases featuring examples from the Trinity College archival collection. 

During the time of my visit the Long Room also included the temporary exhibit, "Preservation & Conservation: What's That?"  The the public historian and archivist in me loved the fact that these educational panels which explained essential components of the field were on display.  The exhibit explained historical photograph treatments, book bindings, the difference between preservation and conservation, and what type of education you need to enter this field. 

Overall, I enjoyed the visit to Trinity College but the Book of Kells exhibit and display was probably my least favourite part of the experience.  The Long Room and the campus grounds were far less crowded and much more enjoyable.

Cultural Landscapes at NCPH 2013

Tongariro National Park, NZ

Thursday afternoon I attended the "Whose Public? Who speaks for Cultural Landscapes" session at  NCPH featuring Susan Gray, Elizabeth Pishief and Aurelie Gfeller.  This session was a more traditional format with the presenters each reading a formal paper.  The common theme in the session was the preservation of cultural landscapes and the connections that indigenous people have to traditional landscapes.

Pishief spoke about her experience in the development of  land use and cultural landscape policies in New Zealand.  Pishief's presentation provided insight into the cultural practices of the Maori people and the impact of their beliefs have had on the development heritage discourses.  Perhaps most signficantly, Pishief described the Maori understanding of land as being both material and spiritual and uniquely connected to a sense of place and belonging. This presentation provided food for thought regarding Canadian indigenous conceptions of land and stewardship. 

Gfeller's presentation was focused on the UNESCO world heritage designation process.  Though this presentation was not focused directly on indigenous conceptions of heritage, Gfeller did explain the roots of UNESCO designation and the difficulties many indigenous communities have getting their cultural landscapes recognized.  Gfeller indicated that indigenous communities are often hampered by the UNESCO application process, the need to apply through formal government channels, and the need to explain non-tangible conceptions of cultural landscapes. 

This panel concluded with Gray's description of her experience working as an expert witness during litigation surrounding the 1836 Treaty of Washington with an emphasis on the historical and contemporary definitions of settlement.  I found Gray's discussion of settlement as a European term which is closely linked to the transformation of forest into farms intriguing and appropriate considering the many land disputes that are still occurring in North America. Understanding  language used in original treaty documents is crucial to land dispute resolution.

Overall, I found this panel to contain a lot of interesting ideas about indigenous and settler conceptions of cultural landscapes across international boarders.  The only drawback of the panel was that the format left limited time for audience questions and interaction.

Preservation of the Northern Michigan Asylum

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Traverse City was visiting The Village at Grand Traverse Commons.  The built heritage preservation and adaptive reuse of the buildings contained in the 63 acre site is amazing and serves as a reminder of the possibilities encompassed by built heritage.  The Village is built on the site that was home to the Northern Michigan Asylum, later known as the Traverse City State Hospital from 1885-1989. 

The site comprises a large complex of buildings, with the main building being surrounded by cottages and smaller out buildings.  The main building (Building 50) is the last remaining Kirkbride style building in Michigan and large portions of it have been renovated and turned into public and private spaces.

The renovated building features a Mercato market space which features shops, restaurants, and  hallways filled with artwork.  The building also includes a number of residential spaces and office space.  During my visit the space was also home to an indoor farmers market.  The variety of adaptive reuse options that have been used on this one building are amazing, historical spaces have been converted to a variety of modern uses that have broad appeal and sustainability. 

In addition to the amazing adaptive reuse the site is located amongst 480 acres of preserved parkland.  The village grounds also contain a  heritage arboretum.  This arboretum developed out of Dr. James Decker Munson's belief in beauty is therapy, which resulted in a variety of beautiful trees being planted around the Hospital. It's nice to see a space preserving aspects of the natural landscape which complement the built heritage features.  

Overall, the site is an amazing preservation project that has garnered tremendous local support and inspired contemplation of the history of the site.  Visitors to the Village can't help but notice the rich history of their surroundings.  During our visit I heard more than one person talking about the social history of the site and explaining aspects of the local history--the space is a great model for communities looking to reinvigorate unused heritage buildings. 

Community Archives and Sharing Information

Bates Hall, reading room

Morning North recently featured a segment on the facebook page "Sudbury's Fine Past & Future Let's Reminisce."  The page aims to share photographs and memories of Sudbury.  The page has over two thousand likes and over 50 photo albums focusing on all aspects of Sudbury history including theaters, hospitals, streetcars, and neighborhoods. The success of this historically focused initiative surprised me, I expected to see a page with lots of content added by a small handful of contributors and little discussion.  Fine Past & Future seems to have an active and dedicated community of users and contributors who actively contribute and comment on photographs. 

What intrigued me about the Morning North Interview of the page founder, was the comparison of the page to an archive.  When asked if she thought the page was like an archive Church-Beaudoin indicated that she thought it was something different and that archives were really only for research and not designed for sharing photographs for those with just a casual interest in the past.   [Full disclosure: I almost started telling my car radio the many virtues of archives at this point.] 

A facebook page is definitely not an archive in the traditional sense.  I suppose one could argue that this particular collection of photographs represents a snippet of a personal collection or a personal archive.  Regardless, the comparison of a collection of photos to an archive isn't what bothered me.  The relegating of archives to serving only professional researchers is what didn't sit well in my mind. 

Archives do a lot more than merely serve academic researchers. Archives help preserve the heritage of communities and aim to share that preserved heritage with the community.  Many archives have started using social media in a way similar to the Fine Past & Future page--to share photographs and gain user generated metadata about unknown images.  

 Archives also undertake the preservation of physical and digital content.  That user generated metadata is being preserved by archives and not merely left up to facebook to keep safe.  Those physical photographs of community landmarks, historical buildings and community gatherings are being preserved  in acid-free sleeves and environmental conditions that are designed to limit deterioration. 

Yes, archives have traditionally been the domain of academic researchers.  But genealogists, casual researchers and community historians are all welcome in many community archives.  Many archives have created finding aids specifically to help with genealogy research or have reading rooms focused on local history.  The users of archives are just as diverse as the content held by the archive.  Archives need to continue to promote themselves, their services and their collections to the general public. 

Photo Credit: Boston Public Library

Digital Tools For Transcription

In the past when I have worked with audio recordings of oral history interviews I have worked with Audacity for the digitization and transcription of the recordings.  Audacity is open source and does a great job in the digitization process and handles the manipulation (clean-up) of audio files well.  Additionally, Audacity does allow users to slow down the playback rate, which helps a lot in the transcription process.

However the transcription process can be a bit clunky if you are constantly switching between an Audacity window and a word processing program.  I've found that using two screens and Alt+TAB can help with switching between programs to replay bits of audio, but the process has never been ideal. 

Enter Express Scribe (possibly accompanied by sounds of transcription joy). As I mentioned in an earlier post I'm currently volunteering with the Multicultural History Society of Ontario (MHSO) as a transcriber on their Discovering Multicultural Ontario Digital Archive project. This transcription gig is what introduced me to Express Scribe as a tool for transcription.

I haven't bee using Express Scribe for nearly as many different tasks as I use Audacity for, but it has a good setup for transcription.  The interface is super easy to understand and it can be downloaded for free. Setup and figuring out how to use the program for transcription took under ten minutes. Comparatively, I found Audacity great once I got used to it but the multiple toolbars and copious numbers of icons made it a bit daunting at first.

Express Scribe has also been mentioned multiple times on the H-oralhistory listserv as a good option for oral historians.  Personally, I like the program because you can adjust the audio and type all within the same window.  It's like a playback program and a word processing program combined.

What digital tools do you use in the transcription process?

Photo credit: Keenesaw State University Archives

Time Capsule History

I was recently listening to a speaker who used time capsules as the introductory hook in his talk.  His description of time capsules focused on finding previously lost historical knowledge, the excitement of opening time capsules and the ability of time capsules to speak about the era they were created in.

The idea of finding a hidden piece of history and bringing it to light reminds me a lot of Indian Jones, treasure hunting and successful archival finds.   But, all I could think of when the speaker was using time capsules as an analogy was how vulnerable materials in poorly constructed time capsules are. 

All things deteriorate with time. Ideal preservation conditions can increase the lifespan of historical documents and artifacts.  But the items enclosed in a time capsule that a grade five class made themselves and buried for future grade five class might not have a great hope of extended survival.  Similarly, the digital mediums today will most likely not be usable in 50 years, making DVDs and CDs placed in time capsules rather useless. 

The time capsule analogy is an interesting one.  But I think it could be more aptly used to describe the fragile nature of human memory, the written word and our conceptions of history.  Our insights into the past are limited by what is left behind -- records, artifacts, oral histories, and material culture.  Like a poorly constructed time capsule, aspects of history that we don't actively aim to preserve often grow dim and fade into dust. 

Similarly, a time capsule only shows a glimpse into an era.  Often the contents of a time capsule are include because they hold significance to the creator of the capsule.  But that significance or an explanation of the context surrounding the item are very rarely included inside the capsule.   The items in a time capsule are like random bits of historical information, they have the potential to be important but without more information it's hard to tell what their actual value is. 

On the other hand, I remember being very excited as a child about the idea of creating and saving something for future students who might attend the elementary school.  Time capsules are a neat way of engaging the public with the past, they just need to be approached with a bit of knowledge about preservation and history.

Photo Credits: QuesterMark and Jessica Wilson

Battle of Documentation

Documentation provides a written account of procedures, practices, successes, failures, and countless other big and small details.  The benefits of documentation include preserving institutional memory, providing new employees with detailed explanations of work tasks, and avoiding personnel from reinventing the wheel.

 Even with all these wonderful benefits, documentation is often neglected in favour of more 'important' tasks.  This can result in a loss of information, incomplete records, and the reproduction of labour later on.  I actually really enjoy creating documentation.  I find creating workflows, policies, and best practices oddly relaxing - perhaps it's the feeling that if I was to get hit by a bus tomorrow, someone would be able to pick up and understand the work I was doing.

My place of work currently uses a wiki to hold our documentation.  Using this communal space allows all staff to read, edit, and reference documentation when necessary.  Since our documentation is all online, staff can access it regardless of where they are working from.  The wiki also automatically tracks changes made to content,Initially a few staff members were reluctant to learn wiki markup, but with some gentle encouragement it became clear that even staff who aren't so tech savvy could learn with time.

In past positions I've used word documents for documentation.  This is probably my least preferred method of documentation.  You end up with multitudes of different versions of the same document and everything needs to be emailed or printed for other staff.  I do recommend that if you are using this method you come up with standard file naming procedures and footnote templates that denote version number.  Standardized naming helps make this slightly cumbersome method of documentation a bit easier to track.

Using Google Docs for documentation eliminates some of the email headaches caused by using Word.  Google Docs allows for items to be shared with multiple people, and can provide a collaborative editing space.

How does your work handle documentation? Do you have a preferred method of documentation?

Creating Archival Professional Development Workshops

Over the course of the spring and summer my work is holding weekly events focused on library and archives professional development, training, and themes.  The sessions will be open current staff, university faculty, and local professionals. 

As part of this series a colleague and I are going to be facilitating three sessions focusing on archives.  Our library/archives staff is primarily made up of personnel with significantly more library than archival experience.  We hope our sessions will help library staff, other departments, and community members understand a bit more about archival practice.  Our sessions will focus on the basics of archival organization and preservation, community based heritage projects, and how to establish a successful digitization program. 

So, what makes a good professional development workshop? How do you gear your programing to suit a wide ranging audience who hold a variety of skill sets? What have been some of your best workshop experiences? Some of the aspects I particularly value in workshops include:

• Hands on learning. In this particular instance incorporating hands on experiences could be done with preservation techniques, numbering files, scanning items, and creating metadata.
• I also like having resources available after the workshop.  Be that an email with links to projects mentioned, a PowerPoint presentation, or additional resources for participants to look at.
• Specific examples of successes, failures, and work-arounds.   Theory is all well and good, but at a workshop I prefer to learn about actual best practices and implementation that is in progress.
• Being able to ask questions throughout the workshop if in an informal setting or having ample time at the end to ask questions about the material.  

What do you think are essential components of archival (or any other) professional development sessions? 

December #builtheritage chat

This month's #builtheritage twitter chat focused on preservation and the holidays.  There was an abundance of good festive promotion ideas,  examples of seasonal events, and


First portion of the chat focused on the question, How can you use the holidays to promote your historic site? Some of the proposed activities included:

• Displaying old holiday photos on site or on social media
• Holding seasonally themed events -teas, crafts, tours, etc
• Holiday snacks! 
• Holiday theater stage at the heritage site, eg. the Christmas Carol
• Combine with other local events your activities with other local holiday events
• For example, the distillery district in Toronto christmas market, draws thousands 
• Watson's Mill in Ottawa hosted a Christmas Fair and Art Show this past wknd.
• As a backdrop to other heritage events, or as a venue for private holiday functions
• Family ornament decorating activities

Second question of the chat, what is the most successful holiday program you have been to/organized at an historic site? Favourites included:

• Victorian Christmas at Dundurn Castle in Hamiilton
• The Grand Illumination in Colonial Williamsburg 
• The Candlelight at Dallas Heritage Village. 
• @KyleGonyou recalled being taken to beakfast with Santa at Fanshawe Pioneer Village 
• Alight at Night in Upper Canada Villag
• Advent of Jazz held at St. Paul, oldest black congregation in Dallas, Texas, which was built by freed slaves. 
• Biltmore's candlelit self-guided tours with live music and fires blazing.

Third segment of the chat dealt with, How can we encourage people to shop locally in historic main streets?

• Combine moonlight madness with other activities such as skating, caroling, etc.
• Hold a Christmas festival downtown, and encourage all shops to decorate windows 
• The main streets are just perfect for decorating - light it up!
• Provide more parking
• Ask the community what they want

The chat concluded with a discussion of How do you make sure your holiday activities are as inclusive (and/or multicultural) as possible?

•  Heritage groups, municipalities should encourage all constituencies to celebrate their holiday traditions.
• Having personalized items that can be customizable for any holiday
• The new inclusive is to do lots of niche activities
• Let the historic places speak for themselves. The best places evolve and change with the times if we let them

There was also some discussion about what topics participants would like to see in the 2012 #builtheritage chats.  Some suggestions included focusing on main street design issues, preservation 2.0, or the integration of youth in heritage groups.

Sharing Archival Photographs in a Digital World

Check out my latest post at the ActiveHistory.ca site.  The post talks about options for cultural heritage organizations looking to share photograph collections online through free or low coast image hosting and image sharing sites. 

November Built Heritage Chat Summary

This month's #builtheritage chat topic was the integration of food and heritage.  Prior to the chat actually starting @lloydalter posted a great link to food posters from the past.  The slide show is well worth a look if you're interested in the evolution of commercialism, food history, or just need a laugh.


The first portion of the chat focused on the question In what ways do you see food/foodways intersecting with preservation? There were a lot of interesting connections made between food and preservation during this portion of the chat, including:

• The idea that everyone needs to eat and drink, and that looking at food trends and changes throughout the past is an interesting way to approach heritage.
•  @stevemouzon suggested that historically market squares and gardens were the focus of towns
• wanderu noted that farms are cultural heritage landscapes, barns, silos, cheese factories often have heritage value. 
• It was also suggested that food is an element of cultural heritage that's often strongly place-based but also has lots of border-crossing potential
• Additionally food and food smells have the power to conjure up personal and family memories

The second question of the chat was How have/could you use food in your programs? Responses included:

•   @jonaskayla: mentioned that @historicplaces has food app that includes recipes from across Canada, some date from as far back as the 18th century
• Designing menus based on period foods or demonstrating period cooking methods was suggested
• @delaneyhf suggested checking out the  Brooklyn Historical Society fall programs as examples of involving food in programming 

The third segment of the chat highlighted the question How do we protect our agricultural heritage when it is in working landscapes? Some of the highlights were:

• There was a general theme that continuing to work the land and keeping it farmed traditionally helps preserve this part of our heritage.
• Reusing agricultural buildings such as barns and silos for other purposes instead of demolishing them.
• Need to recognize agricultural heritage in our urban landscapes - old wells, old houses, old roads.

The chat concluded with a discussion of How does and #preservation intersect, if at all, with sustainability?  Some of the intersections thought of were;

• @delaneyhf noted that "Sustainability is most often achieved through the use / promotion of local resources, be that buildings or food"
• The idea that cultural heritage is about ideas and concepts and goes beyond physical heritage. 
• Overall there was a general feeling that history, preservation, heritage, and food are integral parts of how we should live our lives.

The next #builtheritage chat is on December 7th at 4pm and will deal with holiday promotion in the heritage field.

Photo Credit: United Way of the Lower Mainland 

Update: Today the National Museum of American Heritage Blog featured an interesting  post on "American History told Through Squash."

Built Heritage Chat: Preservation Jobs

Today was the #builtheritage chat for May which focused on preservation jobs and employment within the preservation field. The chat was moderated by @jonaskayla, @PresConf, @PresNation, and @PreservationJob. A complete transcript of the chat is available here.

The first question of the chat was What’s more critical to a successful preservation career – degrees or experience? The overwhelming majority of responses emphasized the importance of experience and the diversity of types of experience that organizations are looking for. It was also reinforced that a balance is best: a degree in something, volunteer experience, enthusiasm, and a friendly personality have the potential to contribute to a great preservation career.

Building on the first question the second portion of the chat focused on the question What's your number one tip to recent grads or job hunters? Answers to this question built upon the idea of gaining experience in the preservation field. Volunteering, internships, shadowing, researching, and taking low paying summer jobs were suggestions of ways to gain experience prior to finding that ideal preservation job. Chat participants also emphasized the importance of networking, skill building at conferences and workshops, and becoming involved in your local preservation organizations. It was also noted that the preservation field is wide ranging and hires people with a wide range of skills - human resources, presentation, digital expertise, marketing, etc. - and that grads should took to diversify their strengths.

The third portion of the chat focused on the feel good question, What is the best thing about working in the heritage preservation field? A large portion of the responses focused on the variety of the field, the passion of the people, and the feeling of being involved in something meaningful. A couple of my favourite responses included: "Building something that will strengthen our community. Small towns in Eastern Ontario need help. We can be a catalyst." from @spencervillemil and "inspiring a new set of people - young, old, etc. Getting the message out how important our history is" from @ATHeritageArea.

The last segment of the chat focused on What is the best way to connect with other preservationists? Seeing as how this was a twitter chat it is hardly surprising that many people mentioned social media as a means of connecting. Other mentioned techniques included: conferences, email lists, forums, following up face to face meetings with an email, and meeting up with local organizations while traveling.

In addition to the 'official' questions asked during the chat a few of the chat's participants sparked great discussion with their own questions. @LindsayJSasser raised the question: What are some of the current/upcoming challenges for pres. orgs? What skills can employees bring? Responses focused on grant application skills, presentation skills, a working knowledge of the industry, familiarity with the heritage act, and a willingness to learn.

This was a great chat with a lot of great ideas for those looking to become more involved in their local heritage community. The next #builtheritage chat will be on June 1st at 4pm and the potential topic is local engagement.

Built Heritage Chat on Sustainability

Today was the second #builtheritage chat. This month's chat focused on sustainability. The majority of the chat focused on the links between sustainability in the heritage field and the environmental movement. A complete transcript is available here.

The first portion of the chat focused on the question What do the heritage #preservation and the environmental movements have in common? A number of interesting similarities we brought up and a emphasis was placed on the idea of the two movements working together. This portion of the chat also highlighted the importance of seeing heritage preservation as something beyond reusing buildings and as something with can be beneficial to the environment. The participant @wanderu made a great point that both movements focus on cultural landscapes. This point seems symbolic of the overarching commonalities of heritage and environmental movements.

The second question raised in the chat was How are the #heritage #preservation and #environmental movements different? This responses to this question highlighted many of the seeming contradictions between heritage preservation and environmentalism, such as: buildings been seen as obstacles in environmentalism, and private ownership in the heritage movement and the public nature of the environment. Chat moderator @jonaskayla pointed to the Banff Wheeler House as an example of the environment and heritage in conflict. Despite these seeming conflicts the general feel of the chat still emphasized the similarities of the two movements.

The third portion of the chat focused on the question What can we as heritage professionals and advocates learn from the environmental movement? The responses emphasized the need of the heritage field to learn about promotion, the use of statistics, marketing, and highlighting the benefits of heritage preservation. One of the most retweeted points in this section was from @perkinswill_PR and emphasized that it is necessary "Separate preservation from obstructionism! Preservation is about the FUTURE, not putting the past in a pickle jar." Preservation needs to be made relevant to present and future concerns.

The final segment of the chat focused on how the movements can work together to achieve sustainability. Some general themes which came out of this discussion included: the need to network outside of your own field, the benefits of finding common ground in policy and political advocacy initiatives, and the need for give and take on both sides.

Overall, this chat included a lot of great ideas, positive thoughts, and points to consider. It was interesting to see that the overwhelming majority of participants believed in the benefits of combining heritage and environmental preservation movements. The next #builtheritage chat will be on May 4th at 4pm and will focus on building a career and job hunting in the preservation field.

Built Heritage Twitter Chat

The first built heritage twitter chat took place earlier today. The chat focused on adaptive reuse and was moderated by @jonaskayla, @presconf and @presnation. The chat was well organized and included a number of interesting questions and examples were brought up. The #builtheritage chat is currently slated to run on the first Wednesday of the month at 4pm. The complete transcript of the chat is available here.

The first portion of the chat focused on the question "What are you favourite examples of adaptive reuse?" Some of the most interesting examples included the Ford assembly building in Richmond CA, The Alumane Theatre which was once a fire hall, Toronto's Distillery District, and the converted Brisbane Powerhouse.

The discussion then moved on to the question, "What are the biggest barriers for adaptive reuse?" This portion of the chat focused mainly on the misconceptions associated with adaptive reuse. Misconceptions include the idea that adapted buildings can't be green, that reuse prohibits city growth, and that the people automatically assume a higher cost is associated with reuse.

The third portion of the chat focused on what steps heritage groups can take to encourage adaptive reuse. One of the best points in this section was the need to acknoweldge adaptive reuse is also a great "in-between" between full-fledged historic preservation and living/working in a modern setting. Additionally, it is essential that people be aware of what the advantages of adaptive reuse are, be shown successful examples, and highlight the flexibility in reuse.

A follow up question asked for input on how to local support for adaptive reuse of buildings. Suggestions included giving tours of reuse buildings, getting support from the local government, highlight the integrity of the building and what it means to the community in a wider historical context.

The final portion of the chat focused on the question "Is there a building you would like to see reused? For what?" A couple of the neat suggestions that were put forward included: The Auchmar Estate to be reused as a conference centre and the R.L. Hearn Generating Station as a museum.

Overall the chat brought up some interesting ideas and it was great to see people of a variety of backgrounds and interests take part in the discussion. I look forward to seeing what type of discussion the future chats inspire.

Healing and restoration

December 19th's #reverb10 prompt was:

Healing. What healed you this year? Was it sudden, or a drip-by-drip evolution? How would you like to be healed in 2011?

This prompt brought to mind heritage restoration and the 'healing' of heritage buildings. Ideally, heritage preservation comes prior to extreme restoration efforts. Depending on the state of the building, heritage restoration allows for the integrity of historical features to be maintained and in some cases assists in the preservation of the built heritage.

Ideally the healing component of restoration would include repairing a building in a way that is true to the architecture of the era. Replacing original windows with new energy efficient windows that are made in the style of the original windows or repairing and reinforcing the original windows are a couple of examples of heritage restoration and preservation.

Intergration through tradition

Today's #reverb10 prompt was: Body integration. This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn't mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present?

The moments this year where I have felt the most integrated have occurred since I started my new job. I have recently had the opportunity to participate in three Aboriginal smudging ceremonies. Each time I have participated in a smudge the feeling in the room has been one of thoughtfulness, remembrance, gratitude, balance, and unity. I feel fortunate to have been able to participate in these activities. Smudging also brings to mind the importance of preserving traditions, especially in an oral, marginalized, or aging society. Actively practicing traditions have the potential to allow people to become in touch their history, learn more about their culture, and to become integrated with their roots.

Letting go of built heritage

The December 5th #reverb10 prompt is: Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

A number of Ontario communities let go of valuable built heritage this year. Old buildings have been damaged by neglect, torn down by cities, or 'renovated' in the name of modernization. Earlier this year the Heritage Canada Foundation put out a 'worst losses' list which named the most significant buildings lost in 2010. The list includes:

1) Century Theatre, Hamilton, Ontario
2) 35 - 151 Colborne Street, Brantford, Ontario.
3) Downsview Hangars (Buildings 55 and 58) - Former CFB Downsview, Toronto, Ontario
4) Fleming Grain Elevator, Fleming, Alberta
5) River Street, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
6) Watson Lake Hotel, Watson Lake, Yukon

All of these buildings were valuable based on their age, architecture, or provenance. It's disconcerting that three of the six major losses on this list are from Ontario. Built heritage preservation simply isn't a priority or fiscally feasible for a lot of communities. As a result, it seems as though at least once a month another irreplaceable historical landmark is let go of.

Finding Wonder in Natural Heritage

The fourth #reverb10 prompt is:

Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

In the past year I have renewed my appreciation for Canada's natural heritage and beauty. In the past I have often over looked natural heritage for more man made history. A few of the natural heritage sites which filled me with wonder this year include the Agawa Canyon, Aubrey Falls, and Lake Superior.

The hours spent on a train to get to the Agawa Canyon were more than worth the trip. The canyon park includes numerous striking waterfalls, a river, and the canyon itself is a great display of natural heritage. The canyon was created by faulting in the Canadian shield and the remote nature of the canyon has resulted in the majority of the natural beauty of the site being maintained.

My visit to Aubrey Falls inspired further appreciation of natural beauty in Canada. However, that site is directly impacted by a hydro plant next to it. The amount of water which flows over the falls is actually controlled based on how much power is being generated. The stark contrast of nature and development at Aubrey Falls reminded me of the importance of preserving our natural heritage for future generations.


The drive up to Thunder Bay allowed me to take in the vastness of Lake Superior. The changing temperament of the water, the quietness of the North, and the sea like waves were some of my favourite parts of that drive.