Ian Livsey

After attending and graduating from Mechanical Engineering at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. I then opted to study Business at York University. From the university calendar, I noticed a study of Science, Technology and Society and applied for and was granted admission to the program. My Professor, Dr. Richard Jarrell, accepted my choice of study in industrial history. Meanwhile my Engineering Association published my papers – in all some 12 papers ranging from the History of the Steam Engine; History of the Stockton to Darlington Railway; Design and Manufacture of the Coalbrookdale Bridge etc. On my fourth year at York, I was allowed a self-directed course. I chose the history of the Town of Dundas, Ontario during its rise as a major manufacturing centre during Ontario’s industrial revolution (circa 1800 -1860’s.) I wrote a book on my research but never published.

I was President of the Ontario Society for Industrial Archaeology. Word spread about my Dundas story, and I was invited by several organizations to make presentations (i.e. the Institution of Mechanical Engineers; the graduating classes of engineers at U of T and University of Ottawa and a few Toronto historical societies). I conducted walking tours of industrial history sites, (i.e. West Toronto Junction, The Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology (presented to members of the Society of Industrial Archaeology, a group based from the Smithsonian Institute); many tours to local historical institutes in Dundas. Industrial history continues hold my interest.