New app helping make local history more accessible

Winnipeg

The Manitoba Historical Society has just made it a lot easier to discover historical sites and other places of interest in the province.

With a new app called InSite, available at no charge, viewers can search for and learn about all kinds of fascinating places. The app highlights historical information about buildings, parks, and more, in the vicinity chosen by the user.

Tracey Turner, executive director with the Manitoba Historical Society since 2018, has worked on a few major projects since being in her role, including the launch of a completely new website. Now merging the old with the new, she’s excited about having the app technology as a new resource to facilitate accessing information on the many historical sites in Manitoba.

“I appreciate being able to connect people with our history and our heritage in a number of ways, and as director I can focus our resources where I think they can have the most impact,” she said about her work.

Turner is highly enthusiastic about the learning that will come from accessing information through InSite.

Within the first week of launching InSite, the app was downloaded 5,000 times. Released on July 11 — at the start of Historic Places Days, an annual event celebrating rich heritage and historic sites — the weeklong celebration organized by the National Trust for Canada was the perfect time to raise the profile of the new app.

“Everyone will be using it,” Turner said, about InSite. “I’m quite astounded. People that are interested in it include those looking for staycations and road trips, and tourists,” she noted, adding that it’s an opportunity for everyone to appreciate and learn about Manitoba’s rich heritage.

The app will have broad-based appeal for journalists, students, history buffs and anyone else curious about history.

“It’s easy to get caught up with where we are headed instead of where we’ve been, particularly in such a young nation,” Turner said, emphasizing the importance of making space for connecting to our past.

The MHS InSite app for both Apple and Android smartphones provides the ability to get information about historical sites in Manitoba, including buildings, museums, churches and cemeteries, among many others. Using an interactive map, which used to be available only online, the technology brings it to the smartphone. InSite brings history right into your neighbourhood and knows exactly where places of interest are located.

Support from Manitoba Heritage grants enabled the creation of the easy to navigate app with a built-in search engine. The MHS InSite app icon shows a smart map of Manitoba. After it’s installed, the first thing it’ll do is load up its database. After that, a whole world of different categories, photos, and descriptive texts — depending on what is known — will be available to the user.

InSite will work without internet access, but the experience is not as strong. The app will even show places where significant events occurred and where buildings used to stand.

“The app itself has been a two-year project we’ve been working on, with so many projects going at one time,” Turner said. “With how people access information now, websites are wonderful in the office and home, but with the app, people can access information on a minute-by-minute basis in their hands.

“The app is a game-changer in terms of how you understand your place in your community and environment. It’s pretty staggering. You open up the app and see how many things are around you. There’s a museum here, a memorial there, a cemetery there — these different commemorative places to visit.”

Turner has been inspired to explore a few of the places she never would have known about without the app.

“InSite is giving you that access to the resources that are around you. It does it for you.”

The Manitoba Historical Society (MHS) was founded in 1879 and is the oldest historical organization in Western Canada. The charitable organization promotes public interest in and preservation of Manitoba’s history and heritage through a range of programs and resources, including tours and awards.

MHS monitors the situation on heritage and historical structures in the province to ensure the updated information is forwarded to the public and the government.

Operating on a limited budget, the society has only one paid staff member, and functions with the help of a dedicated group of volunteers, including photographers and researchers.

MHS has a YouTube channel with 13,000 subscribers, currently.The channel features production of Manitoba Heritage minutes. MHS is proud to be able to add the new app to its list of resources for the public.

“InSite is a tool that connects to resources and archives that we’ve been building for a long, long time. It’s a digital gateway to Manitoba’s past,” Turner said.

Visit www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/insite.shtml for more information.