Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.01.1974, Side 1

oister Laufey Olson,
% Advent Lutheran Church
3000 North líamline Ave.
07. PAUL, Minn. 55113
Jan.
74
SÉ ÉG HENDUR MANNA MYNDA
MEGIN ÞRÁÐ YFIR HÖFIN BRÁÐU.
Matthías Jochumspn
1835-1920.
88. ÁRGANGUR
INSCRIBED
ON THE
MONUMENT
WILL BE —
1. The names
and the place
of origin in
Iceland of the
Pioneers in
New Iceland
(1875).
2. A map of
Icelamd.
3. A map oí
Manitoba and
New Iceland
(1875).
4. The first
page of the
Laws and
Regulations of
New Iceland
(1877).
5. Page No. 1
of the first
Icelandic
language
newspaper in
Canada,
Framfari 1877.
TABLE OF CONTENTSí
Ambassador’s Message............... P. 1
A word of appreciation .............. P. 2
Centennial Events.................. P. 2
Consular Corp ....................... P. 5
Letter to Subscribers and Prospective
Subcribers ........................ P. 3
Pioneers, 1875 ...................... P. 4
Publications ........................ P. 7
Senior Citizens’ Homes .............. P. 8
AMERTCAN CLUBS:
Hekl'a Club of Minneapolis........... P. 6
IceTandic-American Club of Southern
California ............_.......... P. 7
Icelandic Association of Chicago..... P. 7
Icelandic Ass’n of Washington D.C.... P. 7
IceTandic Club of Greater Seattle ... P. 6
Icelandic Society of New York .......P. 7
Icelandic Society of Northern Califomia P. 7
CANADIAN CLUBS:
Icelandic Canadian Club of B.C....... P. 6
IceTandic Canadian Club of Montreal .... P. 6
Icelandic Canadian Club of Toronto .... P. 6
Icelandic Canadian Club of Winnipeg .... P. 6
Icelandic Club of Western Manitoba .... P. 6
Icelandic Women’s Club of Victoria, .... P. 6
ICELANDIC NATIONAL LEAGUE
AND CHAPTERS
Báran Chapter ....................... P. 6
Brúin Chapter...................... P. 6
Esjan Chapter....................... P. 5
Frón Chapter ........................ P. 5
Gimli Chapter........................ P. 5
IceTandic National League............ P. 5
ísland Chapter .................... P. 6
Leif Eiríksson Club ................. P. 0
Lundar Chapter ...................... P. 6
Norðurljós Chapter .................. P. 0
Þióðræknisfélagið á Akureyri ..._.... P. 6
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS:
Canada Iceliand Foundation .......... P. 7
Centenaries Celebrations Committee .... P. 7
Icelandic Cultural Corporation Inc.__ P. 7
Icelandi'c Festival of Manitoba Inc.. P. 7
Icelandic Picnic Celebration Conrmittee
Blaine, Washington ............... P. 7
Jón Sigurðsson Chapter, I.O.D.E...... P. 7
LÖGBERG
Slofnað 14. janúar 1888
HEIMSKRINGLA
Stofnað 9. seplember 1886
Hetmökrinsla
WINNIPEG, FIMMTUDAGINN 17. JANÚAR 1974
NÚMER 2
The Canada Iceland Foundation and
Centenaries Celebration Committee
By PAUL H. T. THORLAKSON. CC., M.D.
During the last decade, North American scholars
and legislators have taken effective measure to
safeguard and transmit to future generations the
cultural heritage of the 70 or more national groups
which constitute our society and to ensure that
these intrinsic and important ancestral values
will be woven into the fabric of North American
life. This constructive view ought to provide the
various ethnic communities with added incentive
to take stock of their own resources, to understand
and appreciate their linguistic and cultural in-
heritance, and to determine the mode and quality
of their own distinctive contribution.
In Canada and the United Stades of America
there are approximately 46,000 people of Icelandic
descent. Roughly 29,000 are in Canada and about
18,000 in the United States. Most of these people
are second, third and fourth generation Canadians
and Americans. Although relatively few in numb-
er, these descendants of Iceland have become wid-
ely spread across the North American continent.
Moreover, by marriage, they have acquired —
through a substantial admixture of non-Icelandic
ancestry — a multilingual and multicultural back-
ground. As early as the 1930’s, a minister of the
largest Icelandic congregation in North America
reported that in seventy to eighty per cent of the
marriages he performed only one of the contract-
ing parties was Icelandic.
The estimate of 46.000 is based on available
statistical data. During the last one hundred years,
marriages of young Icelandic women to husbands
with non-Icelandic names have been steadily in-
creasing in number. As a result, the Icelandic an-
cestry of their children and grand-children can
no longer be readily identified, even though many
of them have maintained an active interest in
their Icelandic heritage- If statisticians were to
include all these people in their surveys, the to-
tal number of Canadians and Americans of Ice-
landic descent could no doubt be raised to 60,000.
One seldom meets a person of Icelandic or part
Icelandic ancestry on this continent whose par-
ents or grand-parents did not, at one time, live in
Manitoba or North Dakota. These were the two
main areas that attracted the majority of the
original 15,434* Icelandic settlers to Canada and
the United States between 1870 and 1920.
In accordance with the prevailing trends, there
has been a marked population shift in the Ice-
landic settlements from rural to urban centres.
Approximately 18,000 to 20,000 peopTe of Icelandic
descent now live in Winnipeg which, in terms
of numerical strength, is the centre of the Ice-
landers in North America. Two publications, an
Icelandic Weekly and an English Quarterly, have
their offices in Winnipeg. The head offioe of the
IceTandic National League, with its ten chapters
in the United States and Canada, is also in Winni-
peg. This organization, which was founded in
1919, has the following objectives: to help develop
the qualities of good citizenship among persons of
Icelandic origin on this miainland; to preserve the
cultural heritage of the Icelanders; and to main-
tain and strengthen ties with Iceland.
A privately endowed Chair of Icelandic Langu-
age and Literature was established in 1951 at the
University of Manitöba with one of the largest
Icelandic libraries in the world. The University
of Manitoba Press has recently begun publishing
a series of Icelandic literary and historical classics
in English translation.
In Winnipeg alone, there are eight active organ-
izations designed to promote educational and cul-
tural activiities..
1. The Logberg-Heimskringla Publishing Com-
pany Limited-
2. The Icelandic Festival of Manitoba.
3. The Jon Sigurdson Chapter, I.O.D.E.
4. The Icelandic National League of North Am-
erica.
5. The Icelandic Canadian Club
6. The IceTandic Canadian Magazine.
7. The Canada Iceland Foundation.
8. The Icelandic Cultural Corporation, Inc-
In addition, there are a number of societies and
clubs with similar objectives in other cities of
Canada and the United States.
Interchange of scholars between Iceland and
North America is on the increase, and travel to
EMBASSY OF ICELAND
2022 CON N ECTICUT AVENUE. N. W
WASHINGTON, D C. 20008
f tilefni af ijtgáfu þessa tölublaðs LÖgbergs-
Heimskringlu sendi ág blaðinu einlsgar kveðjur og þakkir
fyrir ámetanlegt starf þess til varðveizlu íslenzks menn-
ingararfs vestanhafs og eflingar vináttu- og menningar-
tengsla fslendinga austanhafs og vestan.
Lögberg-Heimskringla er ómissandi tengiliður
milli einstaklinga og hópa af íslenzku stterni í Kanada
og Bandaríkjunum og lyftistöng fyrir fálags- og menningar-
Btarfsemi þeirra.
Með útkomu þessa tölublaðs vona ág, að blaðinu
áskotnist margir nýir áskrifendur og styrktarfálagar.
Haraldur Kröyer
Sendiherra fslands £ Kanada
og Bandaríkjum Ameríku
TRANSLATIQN
On the occasion of the issuance of this special
edition of Lögberg-Heimskringla, I send the paper sincere
greetings and thanks for its inestimable effort in preserving
Icelandic culture in the western hemisphere and the strength-
ening of friendship and cultural ties betwixt Icelanders on
both sides of the ocean.
Lögberg-Heimskringla is an indispensable bond
between individuals and groups of Icelandic ancestry in Canada
and the United States and a lever for their social and cultural
activities•
With the publication of this edition, I hope that the
new6paper will be enriched with many new subscribers and supporters
Haraldur Kröyer
Ambassador of Iceland to Canada
and the United States of America.