Historic Skills Preservation Methodology
Knight Foundry
Historic Skills Preservation Methodology
The proposed methodology is provisionally organized around three interrelated areas of practice: recording, documentation and preservation. We have given narrow definition to these three terms:
Recording: creating a complete record of the skill as performed in the production process. Materials can include manuals, process diagrams, oral histories, video or film documentation. In reality, it sometimes takes years for all the tricks of the trade to emerge in the apprenticeship and production process. Thus training preservation site personnel in skills recording is a key element. Recording veteran workers must have top priority.
Documentation: the complete body of material giving context to the skill: the skill in relation to other skills and techniques, work histories, all materials which contribute to an understanding of the place of the skill in history and in the community of work.
Preservation: actually handing down the skill to new practitioners. "You can't put a skill in a box." Understanding the process of skills transmission, recordings and documentation can help shorten the learning curve, but there's no substitute for hands-on apprenticeship. Here the role of veteran artisans and skilled workers, intact historic industrial sites and operable tools is nearly indispensable.
