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  • War Monuments and Memorials Map
  • Industrial Heritage Cultural Map
  • Cultural Maps

Industrial Heritage Inventory and Cultural Map

Call for Submission for Industrial Heritage Map

We are excited to be developing a new interactive map to geolocate and share BC’s industrial heritage. This project will add to our popular online Culture Maps series.

Industrial growth profoundly changed the province, establishing communities and infrastructure, and contributing to a strong provincial economy, largely from extracting natural resources. Yet many decades of European colonization and a limited understanding of natural resource management and ecosystem degradation left another legacy that some communities must still contend with today.

In our newest Inventory & Culture Map, we aim to raise awareness of this narrative through the province’s industrial heritage sites, providing a resource for researchers, educators and lifelong learners among others.

If you require any additional time with your submission(s) please reach out to [email protected]

Submit A Historic Place

Frequently Asked Questions

How can you help


How Can You Help?

Submit A Site

Submit industrial sites in your area starting on March 8th, 2023. We will collate and review all submissions, generating a final shortlist of sites for upload to the new map. We will also be compiling an inventory of all submissions and aim to make this available publicly outside of the map.

Intake closes on June 9th, 2023.

Submit A Historic Place Here

Register Your Interest

Click here to send an email indicating your interest in this project and we will be in touch soon with more information on submitting your site(s).


FAQ

Click each question to see the answers.

What is a Heritage BC Cultural Map?

Heritage BC has a series of interactive maps that geolocate and provide information on a range of heritage sites across the province. Each map covers a particular heritage theme. The other maps in the series can be found here.

 

What is industrial heritage?

According to the International Committee on the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (ICOMOS) :

Industrial heritage consists of the remains of industrial culture which are of historical, technological, social, architectural or scientific value. These remains consist of buildings and machinery, workshops, mills and factories, mines and sites for processing and refining, warehouses and stores, places where energy is generated, transmitted and used, transport and all its infrastructure, as well as places used for social activities related to industry such as housing, religious worship or education.

It is also important to consider the broader definition of Industrial Heritage that  UNESCO has been embracing :

The new discipline of industrial archaeology celebrates the artefacts of the workplace that have as much meaning in our history as the religious and domestic artefacts and architecture to which more attention has been paid throughout the years. Our industrial heritage includes not only the mill and factory, but the social and engineering triumphs spawned by the new technologies: Neolithic flint mines, Roman aqueducts, company towns, canals, railways, bridges and other forms of transportation and power engineering.
It is important to note that Industrial Heritage exists in all phases of human development. Therefore it is not only found in the 19th and 20th centuries, but as well for example in prehistoric, medieval times.

– Michael Falser, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

 

What ‘industrial heritage’ is being captured in this project?

The scope of activities that fall within the definition of industrial heritage, i.e., being related to industrial extraction, processing, production and transportation of raw materials or energy, is large. In BC, though extraction of raw materials stretches back thousands of years to early Indigenous quarrying of stone for implements – such as the Arrowstone Hills near Cache Creek, within Secwépemc territory – most of the province’s industrial heritage is confined to the post-colonial opening and growth of the region since the 1800s.

In BC, mining/mineral processing and the processing of logging activities were the key industrial heritage activities, and the railways and hydropower generation the main industrial infrastructure. Though not a comprehensive list, other notable industrial activities in BC include bridge-building, brick-making, shipbuilding and canning. These are the key industrial activities we intend to capture in this project. We do however invite communities to submit any site they consider to be industrial in nature. For sites not selected for inclusion on the cultural map, we will publish an inventory list as a means to share the diversity of industrial activities across the province.

While industrial heritage also relates to the equipment, as well as the intangible elements of industry (technologies or traditions) and the social aspects of those industrial activities (e.g., workers’ housing or amenities), in this project, we will generally be capturing the physical remains of buildings, important sites, or key infrastructure only.

 

What is meant by the positive and negative impacts of industrial heritage?

Like many sites around the world, industrial growth profoundly changed BC. It brought technological innovation and established many post-colonial towns and villages, infrastructure and transportation routes and contributed to a strong provincial economy, largely from extracting natural resources – with some of the industries continuing to support communities and the economy today. Yet many decades of European colonization, displacement of Indigenous Peoples from their traditional lands owing to the colonial development of small- or large-scale sites, and a limited understanding of natural resource management and ecosystem degradation also left legacies of environmental and political dispossession that communities, families and individuals must still contend with many decades later. These different legacies help contextualize the ongoing conversations around present-day industrial activity in BC.

The Industrial Revolution profoundly modified landscapes and life styles. The massive means employed to extract raw materials and exploit the minerals and agricultural products resulted in great achievements and grandiose constructions, testifying to the creative genius of humankind.

Guardians of the past, industrial sites testify to the ordeals and exploits of those who worked in them. Industrial sites are important milestones in the history of humanity, marking humanity’s dual power of destruction and creation that engenders both nuisances and progress. They embody the hope of a better life, and the ever-greater power over matter.

– Michael Falser, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

 

What time period is covered in this project?

In general, heritage sites in use before 1970 will be considered.

 

How will sites be evaluated?

We hope to see a wide range of sites across the province submitted to us. Exactly how sites will subsequently be evaluated will depend on the volume of submissions we receive. However, we intend to form an advisory working group of knowledgeable professionals to review and evaluate the submissions and to create a shortlist of sites to be further developed into cultural map sites. The sites that are not included on the map will be included in a published inventory.

 

Who can submit an entry?

Nominations can be submitted by anyone in British Columbia, including organizations (community, non-profit & charitable); educational institutions; local governments; First Nations; and individuals.

 

What is the project timeline?

The call for submissions is open until June 9th, 2023. The evaluation period will occur over summer 2023 with the map and inventory list published in October 2023.

If you require any additional time with your submission(s) please reach out to [email protected]

 

How can I submit an entry?

Please complete our online entry form here.

 

Do you have questions about the Industrial Heritage Inventory & Cultural Map Project that haven’t been answered here?
Contact our project collaborator Diane Mitchell at [email protected]

Submit a Historic Place

Prepare to make a submission using this form. Intake closes June 9th, 2023.

If you require any additional time with your submission(s) please reach out to [email protected]

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As an organization of provincial scope, Heritage BC recognizes that its members, and the local history and heritage they seek to preserve, occupy the lands and territories of B.C.’s Indigenous peoples. Heritage BC asks its members and everyone working in the heritage sector to reflect on the places where they reside and work, and to respect the diversity of cultures and experiences that form the richness of our provincial heritage.