A conceptual approach for non-material heritage: the case of the Hat Industry

This paper describes our current work in the area of Museum Information Systems, namely for crafts and industry museums, where the main concern is to preserve and document not only material artefacts but also oral traditions, know-how, processes, cultural and social contexts, local history, sounds, tactile experiences and smells. Our case study is a Hat Industry Museum, which is being created in the North of Portugal, at the heart of what was, in the last century, the biggest hat-manufacturing centre. As such, the Museum will be also a tribute to the social and economic life of a whole region. We propose a conceptual approach for describing non-material heritage, its application to our case study, and we review current efforts that can be used and integrated in the museum community.