An industrial museum in the heart of tartanism : the creation of the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry

Abstract

In the 1960s, Nova Scotia experienced a substantial increase in the number of museums across the province. Although most were cultural tourism sites, several were small industrial museums. The expansion of industrial museums peaked in the 1970s when the Nova Scotia Museum greenlighted the construction of the largest museum in Atlantic Canada – the Museum of Industry. A series of delays hindered the operations of the museum, and heated political debates led to the temporary closure of the Museum of Industry. This thesis details the origins of industrial heritage tourism in Nova Scotia and the extent to which it offers a romanticized narrative about the past. Further, it considers how and why the Museum of Industry became politically contentious in the 1990s. It also reflects on the place of the museum within the industrial community of Stellarton, and, more broadly, in Pictou County, the heart of Scottish tourism in Nova Scotia.