Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1950, Page 148

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TÍMARIT ÞJÓÐRÆKNISFÉLAGS ÍSLENDINGA
aA árnaðar óskum þessum sé veitt móttaka
með þakklæti og að ritara félagsins sé falið
að viðurkenna þau á viðeigandi hátt. Samþ.
Hr. Forseti Þjóðræknisfélags fslend-
inga í Vesturheimi___
Séra Philip M. Pétursson.
Þegar 31. þing Þjóðræknisfélagsins kemur
saman verður okkur hjónunum luigsað til
ykkar allra og þeirra ógleymanlegu ánægju-
stunda, er við áttum með ykkur í fyrra, er
við sóttum hið þrítugasta ársþing. Við viljum
færa ykkur öllum okkar einlægustu þakkir
f\ rir ykkar miklu góðvild og gestrisni á meðan
við dvöldumst meðal ykkar. Jafnfram flytjum
við þjóðræknisþinginu einlægar árnaðaróskir og
vonum að störf ykkar megi í framtíðinni bera
glæsilegan ávöxt og gjöra böndin milli ykkar
og landa ykkar og vina heima á Islandi órjúf-
anleg á öllum ókomnum tímum.
Gæfan fylgi ykkur og ykkar störfum.
Með einlægum kveðjum,
Ágústa og Thor Thors
Stockholm 18. febrúar
Iorseti Þjóðræknisfélagsins,
Séra Philip M. l’étursson,
681 Banning St. Winnipeg Man.
Beztu árnaðaróskir til þingsins og allra
landa vestra og þakkir fyrir ógleymanlega við-
kynningu.
Helgi P. Briem
Study Group Rcport from Riverton sem að
forsetinn las.
First Year 1947—48
Our ‘Study Group’ was organized Oct. 9,
1947, by Mrs. Holmfridur Danielson, the
cultural representative of tlie Icelandic Nation-
al League. She explained the purposes of such
grotips and the work that had been done in
Winnipeg during the last three years by thc
Icelandic Canadian dub.
The 9 ladies prescnt at the organization
meeting all became members. Everyone was
in favor of studying ICELANDIC THOUS-
AND YEARS during the first year. A discus-
sion leader was appointed to be in charge of
each lecture, and at each meeting one lecture
was read, discussed and supplemented with ad-
ditional material by group members them-
selves. The members took turns at having
meetings in their homes, and the discussion
period was followed with singing, a social
period and delightful refreshments.
Our enrollment increased to 18 members,
which is too large a group, as there is not the
same possibility of giving each individual a
chance to take part in discussions. Ten to
twelve members seems to be about right.
There were 14 meetings held the first year,
and two of the members had a perfect attend-
ance.
We felt that we were much wiser, and better
educated after having had the opportunity to
study ICELANDIC THOUSAND YEARS,
and learning what our forefathers had to
contend with, and we understood many things
that had been very ‘foggy’ before. And it was
the unanimous wish of the group members
to continue this interesting experiment for
another year.
Second Year, 1948—49
Eight members were present at the first
meeting, Oct. 12, 1948. Several new organ-
izations were under way in Riverton that fall
and competition for people’s time and energy
would be keen, but were determined to carry
on. We had received from Mrs. Danielson, an
outline of the work done by the Icel. Canad-
ian club study group dtiring their third and
fourth years of study, which included study of
some of the Icelandic pioneer districts in this
country, and a study of our Icelandic Canad-
ian authors.
The majority of the members were in favor
ot studying the history of the Icelandic pion-
eers in our own country, and elsewhere. For
source material we used Þ. Þ. Þorsteinsson’s
book 3, Jackson’s book, and several issues of
the Icelandic Canadian. At meeting we also
took notes on interesting pioneer incidents re-
lated by our older members. For these we
are particularly indebted to Mrs. Sigrun Sig-
valdason and Mrs. Valdheiður (Briem) Ford.
Sometimes members were able to correct errors
appearing in one of these books: for example
the statement that Ramsay, (well-known Ind-
ian friend of the Icelanders) had not been able
to speak much English. He was married to
an English speaking woman, the daughter of
a Hudson’s Bay Co. factor, and likely spoke
much better English than any of the Iceland-
ers. Many stories are told about Ramsay's