ABSTRACT
Heritage by its very nature values the past and is concerned with the manner through which the past is constructed in the present. By capturing the essence of past occurrences, the historical dimension of heritage not only documents past production of knowledge but also provides an enduring context within which its changing meanings can be traced. Written records and textual documents attest to how knowledge was created and chronicled, embodying and assimilating the particular values of the time when the history was recorded. Thus, text as an historical resource sheds light on how and why a certain history was created at a given time as well as how it was incorporated into the historical canon. It is in this way that the history of heritage illuminates the interplay among knowledge, text and value.
