Lögberg-Heimskringla - 08.07.1994, Blaðsíða 1

Inside this week
Heimskringla
The lcelandic Weekly
Lögberg Stofnaö 14. januar 1888 Heimskringla Stofnaö 9. september 1886
Poetry by Franklin Johnson...............2
lcelandic women set the pace.............3
Some reflections on
the Pioneer Women.....................4, 5
Celebrity Concert July 30 in Gimli......6
Children's Corner........................7
108. Árgangur Föstudagur 8. júlí 1994
108th Year Publications Mail Registration No. 1667 Friday, 8 July 1994
Númer 25
Number 25
lcelandic
News
Quality Award:
n The producers of Coca-Cola ín lceland,
Vífilfell h.f. have received an award from
the Coca-Cola corporatíon for consistency
in quafity- This is the top award which pro-
ducers of Coca-Cola can achíeve. The
award was given at a festive evening ban-
quet Vifilfell is a part of a I2 country sales
area wíth 35 factories.
Breath From The Past:
■ A permanent place has been found for
Sigríður (above with her husbgnd and one
ofherdolls) Kjaran's doli collection at the
seníor citizens’ home ‘Grund' in Hvera-
gerði. Grund bought the collection and
named ít 'The Grund Collection'. The col-
lection is on display to the public at Aust-
urmörk 3, in Hveragerði, open on Tues-
days, Thursdays, Satgrdays and Sundays
between 2-6. The artist Sigríður Kjaran
made all the dolls over a five year period.
She says she has tried to create dolis
dotng work, and usíng work methods from
the past, The purpose is to allow the
younger generation to see living condí-
tions and work methods of former genera-
tions. Sigríður made faces, hands and feet
from clay. The tiny clothing is delicateiy
sewn or knitted.
A Farewell Banquet:
B The Vice-8í$hop of Skálholt, Jonas
Gislason, retired at the end of May. The
Bíshop of lceland, Olafur Skulason, and
the Ministry of Church Affairs held a
Farewell Banquet for him and his wife ön a
sunny day at Skálholt, on May I2th.
Among those present were the Bishop of
iceland, ólafur Skúlason artd his wife Ebba
Sígurðardóttir with the Vice-Bishop, Jónas
Gístason and his wife Arnfriður
Arnmundsdóttír.
Festival Flag Hoisted:
fl The Natíonal Festival flag was flown
proudly at the farm at Þingvellir recently.
Steinn Lárusson, manager of the Festival
Committee and Hanna Marfa Pétursdóttir,
the curator of the Þíngvalla Park are seen
here hoisting the flag. The 50th
Anniversary Logo, made by Jón Ágúst
Pálsson is on the flag.
gunnur isfeld y
by John S. Matthiasson
uring the long, hard, Win-
nipeg winter of 1993-4, a
meeting was held at St.
John’s College on the cam-
pus of the University of
which, at its conclusion, was
termed by some of those present “An
Historic Event.”
Later, in a partly tongue-in-cheek
review in this newspaper of that gather-
ing, its editor also called it “historic.”
Maybe that is not an excessive adjec-
tive, because attending the meeting
were the boards of the last two publica-
tions on this continent dedicated to the
preservation of the Icelandic presence -
Lögberg-Heimskringla and The Ice-
landic Canadian, one a weekly newspa-
per and the other a quarterly magazine.
The Icelandic immigrants and their off-
spring were prolific publishers, but now
only these two remain. Their responsi-
bility is a large one. What was particu-
larly striking about the meeting was
that representatives of two Icelandic-
North American organizations which
some regard as being in competition
with one another could sit down and
attempt to draw up a plan for the
shared survival of both. After all,
Icelanders on this continent are notori-
ous for their love of debate and dis-
agreement. On this occasion, the two
boards met, followed an agenda and
reached joint decisions
Many of the details of the resolu-
tions reached at the meeting have
already been reported in Tom Oleson’s
review. In essence, we agreed that there
is a large target audience out there
made up largely of recent immigrants
from Iceland who know little about
either publication, and it would be in
the best interests of both to attempt to
reach that audience by a shared strate-
gy. To do this, a committee of members
of both boards was struck, with the
mandate to find ways to achieve these
ends. It will report periodically to the
larger boards. It was also emphasized
by both sides that the two publications
have different missions, styles and his-
tories, and it so was agreed that our
independent editorial stances would
not be affected by the collaborative
search for new subscribers. Finally it
was suggested that someone from each
board write a brief article about her/his
own publication for the other. This is
the one on The Icelandic Canadian.(l)
The Icelandic Canadian magazine
has been around for more than half a
centuiy — its first fifty years were cele-
brated by a special issue in the summer
Manitoba
of 1992. It was originally the organ of
the Icelandic Canadian Club, a
Winnipeg organization founded in 1938
by several young persons of Icelandic
descent who were interested in seeing
elements of Icelandic culture retained
on this side of the Atlantic, yet also rec-
ognized that this could not be done
exclusively through the use of the moth-
er tongue. Many of them could still con-
verse in Icelandic, but they realized that
their children were not interested in
leaming it. A variety of activities were
sponsored by the club, but all were car-
ried out in English — in fact, it was
written into the constitution that
Icelandic could not be used at their
meetings. Over the years, meetings of
the club drew the largest attendances of
any organizations in the Winnipeg
Icelandic community — they were
meeting a real felt need. Many young
Icelandic Canadians were interested in
their cultural roots, but had not learned
the language of their forebears.
Writing is dear to the Icelandic
psyche, and it was not long
before members of the club
began to explore ways to communicate
information about their aims, activities
and events in written form. For a year,
the newspaper Heimskringla published
a column written by club members, but
it was not long before there was talk
about a special publication of the club
itself. After all, most subscribers to
Heimskringla were readers of Icelandic,
and this was not the target audience
sought. So, in 1942 the first issue of The
Icelandic Canadian magazine was pub-
lished, with the noted writer Laura
Goodman Salverson as editor-in-chief.
An editorial board was struck, with
Judge Walter J. Lindal, who would later
John S. Matthiasson
serve several years as editor-in-chief
himself, as editorial advisor. The first
issue, published that fall, was forty
pages long, and through the years that
has continued to be an average size. It
set the tone for the magazine, with a
mixture of historical sketches, fiction,
poetry, book reviews and serious
essays.
In her editorial for the first issue,
Laura Goodman Salverson pleaded
with her readers to hold on to their
sense of attachment to things Icelandic,
but also to look to the future, and the
evolution of a new sense of place and
commitment in North America. The
magazine seemed to be aimed at those
descendents of the Icelandic settlers
who were firmly embedded in that new
cultural, artistic and political context.
These were a new breed who did not
want to be hyphenated Canadians or
Americans, but rather to be goód citi-
Cont'd. page 3