TAILORING THE HERITAGE RECORD. A PROACTIVE APPROACH TO USER NEEDS 
J. Bell*, C. Ouimet* 
* Heritage Conservation Services, Client Service Team for Canadian Heritage and Parks Canada, Public Works and 
Government Services Canada 
KEY WORDS: Built Heritage Restoration, Heritage Conservation, Heritage Recording, Heritage Recording Techniques 
ABSTRACT: 
The inclusion of sound heritage recording is seldom a high priority to a multidisciplinary multi-client restoration project. Often it is 
an after thought driven by the lack of a detailed understanding of the cultural resource throughout the life cycle of the project. 
Heritage recording is a core conservation activity. The “project scope” for the Fort Henry project states “HCS will carry out heritage 
recording investigations to understand the issues and provide clear options on how to stabilize, restore and conserve the resources 
with a conservation approach meeting Parks Canada’s conservation policies”. This paper discusses the recording techniques applied 
and the recording deliverables generated as critical inputs to the on-going Fort Henry rehabilitation project. These deliverables will 
be evaluated/discussed as to “where value lies” as a result of their generation and the gaps vis-à-vis the information provider vs. the 
information user. An approach to tailoring the record to specific information user needs is outlined and evaluated Furthermore the 
role of heritage recording training for project conservation engineers and architects is presented. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Fort Henry National Historic Site of Canada (NHSC) was built 
from 1832 to 1837 to replace an existing fortification from the 
War of 1812 era. Situated atop Point Henry, the fort protected 
the naval dockyard at Point Frederick, the entrance of the 
Rideau Canal, and the town of Kingston; the latter serving as 
the major trans-shipment point along the supply route between 
The fort was abandoned by the British Army in 1870, and was 
garrisoned by Canadian troops until 1891. During World War I, 
Fort Henry was used as an internment camp for political 
prisoners. Following the war, the fort fell into disuse and 
disrepair. 
Fort Henry was declared a national historic site by the Historic 
Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in 1923. In the reasons 
Montreal/Ottawa and all points west. In the 1840s Fort Henry 
was enlarged with the construction of the branch ditch towers 
and commissariat stores, making Fort Henry the largest 
fortification west of Quebec City. The fort alone cost 70,000 
British pounds sterling to construct, the equivalent of 
$35,000,000 in modem Canadian currency. 
for designation it was noted that the fort “is a site of great 
national importance and its historic features should be 
preserved, repairs carried out and everything done to make it an 
attractive memorial...” In a joint Federal/Provincial project, 
Fort Henry was restored in 1936 to 1938 at a cost of $1 million 
dollars. The fort was opened as a museum and historic site “in 
the name of all British soldiers who served there” by Prime 
Minister Mackenzie King in August 1938. 
Fig. 1 : Aerial view 
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