Lögberg-Heimskringla - 25.04.1980, Blaðsíða 4

Lögberg-Heimskringla, föstudagur 25. apríl, 1980
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í NORÐUR DAKÓTA
”yrir tveimur árum minntust Norður Dakóta Islend-
‘nyar aldarafmælis byggðarinnar umhverfis Mountain.
Þótt ekki sé að jafnaði mannmargt í því þorpi nú orðið,
var þar fagnað mörgum þúsundum hátíðargesta við of-
angreint tækifæri.
Islendingabyggðirnar á þessum slóðum eiga sér
merkilega sögu, og má hafa fyrir satt að holtaþeyinn
sem leggur af Pembínufjöllunum hafi verið frumbýl-
unum hollur því að með hreinum ólíkindum er hversu
marga afreksmenn þessi litla byggð hýsti og ól.
%
Séra Páll Þorláksson var höfundur byggðarinnar,
og þótt hann yrði skammlífur mótaði hann öndverð-
lega stefnu frumbýlinganna þar í bæði andlegum og
veraldlegum skilningi. Vinur hans, Stephan G. Steph-
ansson, fluttist á þessar slóð’ir og vann þar með öðrum
að stofnun Menningarfélagsins svo nefnda og samdi
því stefnuskrá. Þótt félagið liði snemma undir lok,
hafði það engu að síður djúptæk áhrif á menningarleg
viðhorf Vestur-Islendinga. Við Mountain hóf Hjörtur
Þórðarson eðlisfræðirannsóknir sínar með þýdda bók
eftir séra Magnús. Grímsson móðurbróður sinn til leið-
sagnar. „Spyrjirðu móður náttúru réttra spurninga,
veitir hún rétt svör,” stendur þar eða eitthvað því um
líkt. Hjörtur varð síðar einn af þekktustu raffræðing-
um Bandaríkjanna.
Vilhjálmur Stefánsson ólst upp í nágrenni Pemb-
ínufjalla, og þar vaknaði áhugi hans á bókmenntum.
Hann gerði síðar garðinn frægann. Sveinn Bjarnarson,
sá er um er rætt annars staðar í þessu blaði, átti um
skeið heima á búgarði við Edinburg kippkorn suður
frá Mountain. Síðast en ekki síst ber að nefna Káinn,
hirðskáld þessarar byggðar. „Drottinn lát mig dreyma
í Dakóta skuldum frá”, kvað hann. — Stytta gamla
mannsins er við Eyfordkirkjuna, og góðlátlegur glettn-
isandi skáldsins hvílir enn yfir sveitinni umhverfis
hana.
Þjóðrækni Dakóta Islendinga er viðbrugðið. Þjóð-
ræknisdeildin Báran er þar enn við lýði. Fyrr á árum
hlaut sú deild ómældan styrk frá dr. Richard Beck
prófessor, sem í um fjörutíu ár stundaði fræði sín í
Grand Forks og lét granna sína umhverfis Mountain
njóta þeirra starfa í ríkum mæli.
Eins og greint verður frá í næsta blaði þá hafa Is-
lendingar í Grafton Norður Dakóta myndað með sér
samtök undir nafninu The Icelandic Heriiage Club. —
I því félagi eru margir hinir yngri í hópi Grafton Is-
lendinga. Hafa þeir ýmis merkismál á stefnuskrá. Með-
al annars munu þeir annast sérstaka Islandsdeild í
minjasafni sem verður reist í Grafton. Hefur safnstjórn
mikinn hug á að hlutur þjóðarbrota ríkisins verði ekki
fyrir borð borinn.
Islendingafélagið nýja í Grafton ber því glöggt
vitni að hinn forni menningarandi íslendinga í Norður
Dakóta lifir ennþá góðu lífi. H.B.
A SPECTACULAR CAREER
Sveinn Kristján Bjarnason o? Edgar Holger Cahill
From youth to adolescence
His name was Sveinn
Kristjan Bjarnarson. He was
born on Jan. 23, 1887 at
Breidabolstadur in the
district of Skogarstrond in
Iceland, the son of Vigdis
Bjarnadottir and Bjorn
Jonsson.
He was only an infant
when his parents left
Iceland and took him along
to Canada. In 1900 the
family settled in Pembina,
North Dakota. Because of
domestic difficulties, Sveinn
had to leave his family in
North Dakota when he was
only 11 years old. For a long
time afterwards he moved
from place to place, finding
temporary employment in
diverse fields right across
the United States. To give
only two examples, he
worked as a clerk in the
offices of the North Pacific
Railways in St. Paul, Minn.
and as a cook in a Lower
Manhattan restaurant in
New York.
For decades Sveinn
Bjarnarson was entirely out
of touch with his two only
surviving relatives in
America, i.e. Vigdis, his
mother, and his sister Anna,
who had moved from North
Dakota to Elfros, Saskat-
chewan.
Despite limited formal
schooling, Sveinn Bjar-
rson missed no opportunity
to educate himself. He
steeped himself in the study
of such major authors as Leo
Tolstoi, Bernard Shaw and
Oscar Wilde. In addition, he
had a chance to visit the
Orient while in the employ of
the North Pacific Railways,
which sparked his interest
in the wider spectrum of
oriental civilization.
In furtherance of the arts
With allthe vicissitudes of
adolescence behind him,
Sveinn Bjarnarson began to
assert himself as a man of
major intellectual power,
soon distinguishing himself
in the fields of journalism,
literature and art criticism
which, in addition, made
him one of the major
promoters of the visual arts
in the United States.
In the 1920’s Sveinn
Bjarnarson was a regular
contributor to the Nation,
The Freeman, and the
Swedish-American News
Exchange and attended an
International Journalistic
Congress in Sweden, in the
summer of 1921.
In this same period he
was the editor of two New
York weeklies BRONZVILL
REVIEW AND SCARSEDALE
INQUIRER.
SveinnBjarnarson
published his first novel
“Profane Earth” in 1927.
Next came his books on two
American artists “Pop
Hart” (1928) and “Max
Weber” (1930). Two of his
books are based on his
experiences in China. “A
Yankee Adventurer” (1930)
and “Look South to the Pole
Star” (1947). In 1930 - 1931
he published three short
Newark Museum in New
Jersey and was given the
responsibility of collecting
for the museum items of
American contemporary
art. He also staged a
number of exhibits at this
museum of what later came
to be known as American
Folk Art.
His success at the Newark
Holgeir Carill — Sveinn Kristján Bjarnason —
bom at Breiðabólstaiður in Skógarströnd
stories Fun, The Life of Art,
and He Rain. These ap-
peared in The American
Journals Scribner’s
Magazine and The
American Mercury. In 1935,
with Alfred H. Barr, he co-
edited Art in America; A
Complete Survey, a work
which was to become a
classic in its field, and about
the same time he wrote his
play about Wall Street,
which he called Mr.
Thousand.
Sveinn’s last novel The
Shadow of My Hand ap-
peared in 1956. He then was
awarded a Guggenheim
Fellowship to work on
another novel tentatively
entitled The Stone-Dreamer.
Declining health,
however, prevented him
from completing this work.
The Newark Museum
In 1920 the famous
American painter John
Sloan engaged Sveinn
Bjarnarson to write articles
in support of the Society of
Independent Artists. His
work for the Society in-
tensified his interest in the
visual arts. In 1922 he
accepted a position with the
museum attracted the at-
tention of Mrs. John D.
Rockefeller, one of the
founders of the Museum of
Modern Art in New York.
Mrs. Rockefeller engaged
Sveinn to prepare and direct
a ©omprehensive exhibit of
“American Folk Art 1750 -
1900” in the newly
established museum in 1932.
The same year he assumed
'the position of Director of
the Museum of Modern Art
in New York, a position he
held for one year. As a critic
and promoter of the visual
arts he had by now won
national and international
recognition. In 1935 the
government of President F.
D. Roosevelt therefore
appointed him national
supervisor of the im-
plementation of government
policies on the promotion of
the arts in the United States.
It was in this capacity that
Sveinn Bjarnarson from
Breidabolstadur earned
himself the reputation of
being one of the great
benefactors of American
Civilization in this century.
As was said earlier,
Sveinn Bjarnarson, in his
Conl. on page 7