Lögberg-Heimskringla - 25.04.2003, Page 11

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur, 25 Apríl 2003 • page 11
The potential for identify-
ing old photographs first
became evident to me while I
was working on lcelandic River
Saga, some twenty years ago. I
recall an unidentified photo of a
woman with two girls, sent to
me without any information.
From the vintage and format (a
cabinet photograph) and the
photographer’s stamp, I knew
the picture had been taken
about 1890, and from the back-
drop and props it seemed to
have been taken in New
Iceland, likely at Icelandic
River — an assumption sup-
ported by the family history of
the owner. The young woman
appeared to be about thirty
years of age, while the girls
(her daughters?) would have
been about six and eight years
old. Whether the woman was a
widow or simply had her pic-
ture taken without her husband
was not clear.
With these clues and a
hunch, a survey of the
people/families known to be
living at Icelandic River around
1890 tumed up only one likely
possibility — a young widow
named Jóhanna Antoníusar-
dóttir, who arrived in New
Iceland with two daughters in
1888. Jóhanna had remarried
shortly after 1890, and as it
happened I knew that one of
her daughters was still living, in
Winnipeg, in her nineties. This
daughter quickly confirmed
that the photo was indeed of her
mother and • two half-sisters.
She even recalled that the straw
hats the girls were holding had
been bought in England en
route to Canada.
Another interesting identi-
fication involved the photo-
graph of a well-dressed couple
with four children. In this case,
the origin provided no clues,
but the vintage indicated the
picture had been taken in
Manitoba about 1890. It was a
particularly attractive photo,
and over the years I had it pub-
lished four times — on a
brochure for a local histoi-y (as
an example of a pioneer fami-
ly), in Icelandic River Saga (to
illustrate the clothing wom
by the early settlers), in The
Icelandic Heritage, and
in the Icelandic
Heritage Calenclar.
It was eventually
identified through an
unusual sequence of
events. While on a
trip to Iceland, I hap-
pened to be doing
some work at the
National Archives in
Reykjavík, where
some years before I
had gotten to know an
elderly Icelandic
woman named Guðrún,
at that time an employee of
the Archives. She was now
retired, but it so happened that
she too was doing some
research that day. With me, I
had a bag containing two heavy
copies of my book, which I was
to deliver to a bookstore down-
town. The archives closed over
the lunch hour, and rather than
lug this heavy bag around, 1 left
it on tlie desk with my papers.
At 1 pm., when I returned to the
archives, Guðrún came bustling
over. She explained that, out of
curiosity, she had peaked into
one of my books while I was
gone, and to her surprise had
discovered a picture that she
herself owned. The caption in
my book indicated that the
identities of the people were
unknown, but Guðrún knew
who they were, and in fact she
bore the name of the woman in
the photograph, who had been a
close friend of her grándmother
before emigrating and settling
in Winnipeg. She then pro-
duced an identical photograph
from her bag and gave me the
PHOTO BV BEST & CO. OF WINNIPEG C. 1892
A photographic riddle solved
by deduction: Jóhanna
Antoníusardóttir with
daughters Ingveldur and
Margrét (hoiding straw hats
bought in England),
Icelandic River, c 1890.
full particulars on the mysteri-
ous family.
The preservation of old
photographs is vitally impor-
tant, necessitating safe storage
and strategies for ensuring the
future security of an archive —
but it is equally important that a
collection be actively tended
and made both accessible and
relevant. A living collection
results from onrgoing
JggA_ research and work with
the photographs them-
selves, as opposed to
mere storage, and it
also calls for innova-
tive uses of the
images in new ways
that will bring the
past to life once
again.
One such appli-
cation is the reunion
of lost or stray images
with the families they
represent and with indi-
viduals for whóm they
will have meaning. This
includes the publication of
rare or unknown images in
local histories that link past and
present generations. Early pho-
tographs also bring powerful
authenticity and rare insight to
modem media productions and
historical displays. In this
regard, they are a unique and
valuable resource with ti'emen-
dous potential.
Exhibit, Video and Book
The photograph collection
here at Eyrarbakki will form
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the nucleus of an innovative
new exhibit and video produc-
tion on photography among the
Icelandic immigrants, slated to
open in Iceland in 2004. These
collected images will also
become the focus of a highly
visual new book that will
explore and celebrate our pho-
tographic heritage here in
North America.
The exhibit, video, and
book will share the title Þögul
leiftur (Silent Flashes), a sym-
bolic name derived from a
work by pioneer poet Jón
Runólfsson. All three will shed
new light on pre-1910 photog-
raphy from Icelandic .settle-
ments across North America —
as well as on the lives, aspira-
tions, and personalities of the
pioneers themselves.
The book, an initiative
developed here at Eyrarbakki
and supported by the
Department of Canadian
Heritage as well as by various
archives in Iceland, is also due
for completion in 2004.
Organized thematically, this
publication will feature select
photographs of Icelandic immi-
grant families, couples, moth-
ers and babies, children, pio-
neer couples, poets, entrepre-
neurs, leaders, craftsmen,
brides and grooms, etc.
all
taken in North America prior to
1910.
Please see Þögul leiftur on
Page 13
11. P.'ltrtno Sotu
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