Manitou's Al Thorliefson has received the Lieutenant Governor award for his work toward preserving the Provinces rich history and heritage.

"I'm a little humbled by this and I am going to start out by saying that I am not the only one who has done this work. There are a lot of people in the community who has done this work," said Thorliefson.

He noted this award is focused on the work he's done with the Pembina Valley/Manitou archives. Thorliefson really enjoys history and allowing our younger generations to learn how our ancestors lived.

"Most of the rural newspapers from the settlement period, which is from 1880-1915 type of thing. Those newspapers are in really bad shape, because they are getting cracked and yellow, and you don't want many people handling them," said Thorliefson.

"Originally they were photographed in the 1950's and 60's. Then those photographs were put onto microfilm, but now that microfilm is also starting crack and it isn't all that accessible. In order to get access to these newspapers you'd have to go to Winnipeg."

It was a number of years ago when Thorliefson, who was a long time teacher, thought the students in the area's school deserved to have access to this history. This led to him doing a large fundraising campaign, featuring a variety of towns, municipalities, and historical committee's. As a result of this campaign they were able to raise the allotted money to have the history digitized and put on the internet for all of the children to read and learn from.

Thorliefson received his distinction from the Lieutenant Governor, Janice C. Filmon earlier this week at the Government House, which is adjacent to the Manitoba Legislature. He was one of five different people to receive this honour.