Lögberg-Heimskringla - 19.11.2004, Blaðsíða 1

LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA
Lögberg stofhað 14. janúar 1888
Heimskringla stofhað 9. september 1886
Sameinuð 20. dgúst 1959
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♦
Friday 19 November 2004 • Number 22 / Númer 22 • Föstudagur 19. nov
Publication Mail Agreement No. 40012014, PAP # 8000 118th year / 118. Árgangur ISSN 0047-4967
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Harvesting on the Canadian Prairies and the American Midwest was hard in the fall due to heavy rain. In the beginning of
November it cleared up and David Gislason of Svaðastaðir just east of Arborg, MB used the opportunity to harvest his crop.
Old Icelandic
poetry found
in Edmonton
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Lára Hale with photocopies of the poetry by Guðmundur
Jónatansson.
In This Issue
PHOTO: DAVID JÓN FULLER
Enough family for
a baseball team
Elin McKitrick shares
stories of her long and var-
ied life, and on coming from
a large family / page 2
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Day by day
Meet Laura and Sam
Thorkelson of Edmonton,
proud speakers of the Ice-
landic language / pages 8, 9
PHOTO: WALTERSOPHER
Christmas in
Markerville
Members of Alberta’s
Icelandic community show
their support for the restora-
tion of Fensala Hall in Mark-
erville / page 14
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Hnausa history
book launched
Rich history fdls the
pages of Hnausa Reflections:
A History of the Breiðavík
District / page 16
Steinþór Guðbjartsson
Edmonton, AB
Lára Hale in Edmonton is
translating some old Icelandic
manuscripts that have been in
the possession of descendants
of emigrants from Iceland. She
has contacted the Manuscript
Department of the National
Library of Iceland and the
department wants to keep the
original inanuscripts.
Jóhanna Jónsdóttir had the
handwritten poetry by Guð-
mundur Jónatansson from
Klauf, written between 1860
and 1864. They are Vísur um
bændur í Múnkaþverársókn
(Poetry about farmers in
Múnkaþverár parish), Um
ógiptar stúlkur (About unmar-
ried women), Vísur um gipta
og ógipta vinnumenn (Poetry
about married and unmarried
workers), Um giptar konur og
ógiptar bústýrur (About mar-
ried women and unmarried
women) and Formanna vísur
(Poetry about foremen).
Lára says that Ada and
Stan Snædal (Jóhanna was his
grandmother), who have the
handwritten manuscripts, did
not know what to do with
them. “They did not want to
throw them away if they were
of some value for somebody,
and after having contacted the
National Library of Iceland,
we want to get them there,
because apparently nothing
written by Guðmundur
Jónatansson exists in Iceland,”
Lára says.
Soon after Lára and pro-
fessor Cris Hale met in Nor-
way, he was offered a position
in Edmonton. “He said we
would only live here for about
five years. We moved here in
1971 and we are still here,” she
says. Lára is from ísafjörður,
Iceland, and grew up there.
“When I first came to Edmon-
ton the city was like a small
town. Now it is a cosmopolitan
city,” she says.
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