Welcome to CSME's History Committee!
Chair: Ian Frigaard, Ph.D., MCSME, University of British Columbia
Membership: TBD
Vision Statement:
Canada has a rich history in mechanical engineering which has greatly benefited the country’s economy and its standard of living. The purpose of the CSME History Committee is to recognize, record, and publicize Canada’s significant mechanical engineering achievements to promote interest in the discipline and the value it has contributed to society.
Terms of Reference:
The Committee is responsible for initiatives leading to preservation and organization of information about Canadian ME history, including that of the CSME, as well as promoting them. The mission can be carried out through publication of brief articles in the CSME Bulletin, similar articles for mass media, preparation of historical essays to be placed on the CSME website, organization of mini-symposia at the CSME International Congresses, collection and archiving CSME history in coordination with Ontario Tech Library.
Historically, the CSME has commemorated outstanding mechanical engineering achievements such as the Gartshore pumping station in Hamilton, the Peterborough Lift Locks and Canada Arm with the installation of brass plaques. In celebration of CSME’s first 25 years, CSME also published a book, From Steam to Space, which outlined the history of mechanical engineering education, the Society, and important examples of Canadian mechanical engineering developments.
In discharging its responsibilities, the Chair of the History Committee is expected to be supported by a small number of volunteer members which the Chair will recruit through occasional calls for interest and at networking functions. Meetings of the committee shall be held periodically through virtual tools.
The Chair is a voting member of the CSME Board of Directors and thus expected to participate in Board meetings. The Chair is also expected to serve, or nominate an alternate to represent the CSME, on EIC’s History and Archives committee which meets quarterly via 1-hour teleconferences. The mandate of the EIC committee is presented below.
EIC History and Archives (H&A) Committee Mandate:
The primary mandate of EIC's H&A committee is to increase the public’s awareness of the importance to Canada of its engineering history. It does so by providing oversight of work on the Institute’s own history and the preservation of the Institute’s own archives, as well as encouraging the collection of engineering archival material by other agencies etc. This includes having a loose coordination function in regard to the individual member societies’ own History Committees. It also includes adding to the corpus of knowledge about the history of engineering in Canada and elsewhere, as well as liaising with other committees, associations, etc. and individuals in Canada having similar interests, and being aware of engineering history courses being given in post-secondary institutions in Canada.
The Committee is also mandated by Council to nominate past and present members of the EIC and its societies for the Order of Canada, Provincial Orders, the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (sites as well as people), and for any other appropriate honours.
The Committee is also encouraged to produce and list on the web site Working Papers as well as other written material and book reviews. These provide a visible product and legacy by the EIC.
Composition of EIC's H&A Cttee:
As constituted in 1999 by the Council, the EIC History & Archives Committee is to consist of a representative of each of the Institute’s member societies, plus at least two members from non-EIC Canadian engineering societies (in order to round out the coverage of disciplines not covered by the EIC), and at least two professional historians with interests in engineering history (to keep the Committee honest).
The chair is to be selected from among the member society representatives and confirmed by Council. The committee meets quarterly by teleconference.
Current Activities: TBD
Past Activities: TBD
Historical Information of Potential Interest to the CSME Community:
- The History Committee wishes to remind CSME members of the catastrophic event that unfolded on 6 December, 1989. The 6th of December has been declared Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women to commemorate the Montreal Massacre that occurred on December 6, 1989. On that fateful day, a gunman with a legally obtained rifle killed 14 women and wounded 10 other women and 4 men at the École Polytechnique, which is the engineering school of the University of Montreal. Four of the deceased were mechanical engineering students. The following downloadable document, A Montreal Massacre Memorial and Legacy, by Wendy C. Gentleman is supplementary material for an article published in the 2020 Fall issue of the CSME Bulletin. It is intended for educational purposes.