I really like history, which you probably assumed since I work for Canada's History. So the only thing better than history, is a history field trip. And last week we headed out to the University of Manitoba Archives to see some historical maps and their digitization program.

I stumbled on the Manitoba Historical Maps Photostream a few weeks ago and got in touch with it's creator, Larry Laliberte. As soon as I saw they had digitized the fire insurance maps, one of the best sources for information about Canadian cities, I knew this was a great resource. It's a terrific collection of maps and images related to the history of Manitoba. And best of all, they have all been digitized and made easily available through Flickr.

The use of social media was particularly nice to see. It's great to see organizations making their collections easily available. In Teaching Canada's History I made a point of singling out the McCord Museum and their participation in Flickr Commons. Both collections are really terrific and more museums and archives should follow suit.