Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.09.2017, Side 1

LÖGBERG
HEIMSKRINGLA
The Icelandic Community Newspaper • 1 September 2017 • Number 17 / Númer 17 • 1. september 2017
Publication Mail Agreement No. 40012014 ISSN: 0047-4967
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INSIDE
PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIIPEDIA / PUBLIC DOMAIN
The importance of this
humble vegetable / page 5
PHOTO: STEFAN JONASSON
“May you continue to astound
us.” / page 8-9
Toast to
Iceland
PHOTO: STEFAN JONASSON
Images from a great day of
golf / pages 6-7, 10
The Icelandic
Open
Thanks to
the potato
PHOTOS: STEFAN JONASSON
Stefan Jonasson
The establishment of a
newspaper by the first
Icelandic immigrants
to Manitoba was a forgone
conclusion and the settlers of
New Iceland wasted little time
in acquiring a printing press
and launching the enterprise.
Framfari began publishing
140 years ago – on September
10, 1877 – less than two years
after the settlers’ arrival along
the western shore of Lake
Winnipeg. Just imagine it.
These pioneers had barely
begun clearing away bush after
building their first rustic homes, not to mention the smallpox
epidemic they endured, but they felt the need for a newspaper that
would keep the community informed and record their activities
for posterity.
“There was common agreement that two things were
necessary for the preservation of their precious heritage,” it was
reported in the first issue, according to Will Kristjanson’s account
in The Icelandic People in Manitoba, “a separate colony and a
paper in the Icelandic language, published in America. These
two projects were so closely linked that it was scarcely to be
considered that one could thrive without the other.”
The founding of a newspaper was discussed at a meeting in
Gimli in January of 1877 and a joint stock company was formed
to finance the acquisition of a printing press, Prentfélag Nýja
Íslands (New Iceland Printing Company). Shares were sold
for ten dollars each, which was as much as the filing fee for a
homestead, and enough capital was raised by the end of the first
week in February to proceed with the project. One share entitled
its holder to one percent of the company.
The board of directors consisted of Sigtryggur Jónasson,
Friðjón Friðriksson, and Jóhann Briem, who also happened to be
the largest shareholders in the new enterprise. They contacted Rev.
Jón Bjarnason, who was working
as editor of the Norwegian
newspaper Budstikken (The
Messenger) in Minneapolis, and
solicited his help in purchasing a
printing press and the type to go
with it. Because of the Icelandic
language’s unique alphabet,
there was a delay in becoming
operational, owing to the need
to create dies for the distinctive
Icelandic letters. The printing
press arrived in the New Iceland
colony in June and was set up in
a small log house at Lundi, now
Riverton.
The first issue of Framfari
(Progress) appeared on September
10, 1877. At the time, the Manitoba Free Press reported, “It is
very neatly printed, presents a fine typographical appearance
and contains a large quantity of local news, or something in the
Icelandic language.” A century later, historian Nelson Gerrard
observed, “Despite crude conditions and lack of proper facilities,
the paper was extremely well printed with hardly so much as a
typographical error, setting a high standard not always met by
successors, even those provided with modern amenities.”
Sigtryggur Jónasson served as editor for the first eight issues,
while the company awaited the arrival of Halldór Briem, who
had been selected as the permanent editor. Sigtryggur’s brother,
Jónas, who had learned the printing trade in Akureyri, was hired
to oversee printing the paper at a salary of 250 dollars a year,
assisted by teenager Bergvin Jónsson.
Framfari was a four-page newspaper in a tabloid format,
more or less the same dimensions as Lögberg-Heimskringla,
and it appeared three times monthly. It cost $1.50 a year to
subscribe in New Iceland and $1.75 elsewhere. Subscriptions in
Iceland cost seven krónur. (By way of comparison, the average
industrial wage in Canada at this time ranged from 185 to 245
dollars a year.)
... continued on page 10
Framfari – the first Icelandic
newspaper in North America
Framfari monument in Riverton Centennial Memorial Park. First issue of Framfari.
IMAGE COURTESY OF TIMARIT.IS