Abstract

This thesis explores the transition of Pier 21 from a local heritage group to its designation as a national museum in 2009. How it is balancing its role as national historic site, with a large source community, and its mandate to represent the national history of Canadian immigration. The emphasis on intangible cultural heritage, or people’s recorded stories, rather than material artifacts, places Pier 21 in the position to adopt new technologies and to connect on-and offline interpretation. In the beginning Pier 21 brought together a community of immigrants and it was oral histories that helped activate that community in order to bring the institution to life. When Pier 21 is referred to as the ‘museum of memories,’ it invokes not only the memories rooted in the exhibits but in the memories that permeate the site itself. History happened here.