Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1942, Page 55

ICELANDIC EMIGRATION TO AMERICA
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which was started in New Iceland in 1877 under the editorship
of Sigtryggur Jónasson. Owing to the troubles which beset the
colony during the following period, the paper was short-lived,
existing only for a little less than three years, a fate which was
also shared by the next Icelandic weekly, founded in Winni-
peg a few years later. Yet a start had been made, though
the papers in question were small in size, and mere imitations
of papers which existed in Iceland. But the year 1886 saw the
start of the first Icelandic paper on American lines. This was the
weekly “Heimskringla” of Winnipeg, which exists to this day.
At that time it was the biggest paper published in Icelandic,
and its appearance was a real new departure in the history of
the Icelandic press. Its influence as an organ of instruction for
Icelandic emigrants can hardly be overestimated. It must be borne
in mind that as long as the latter had no command of English,
innumerable things in their adopted country must of necessity
remain a closed book to them, if they had no papers of their
own to tell them about them. The first years in the career of the
“Heimskringla” were, however, full of difficulties, and publi-
cation even had to be discontinued for some time. Its first editor,
Einar Hjörleifsson (Kvaran), who later on made a name for him-
self as a writer, left it shortly after its foundation in order to
found another weekly paper, called “Lögberg” together with
Sigtryggur Jónasson. This paper, which was of about the same
size as the “Heimskringla” also exists to-day, and is published
in Winnipeg. Though the competition between the two papers
at first made things hard for both of them, it proved beneficial
in the long run, as the existence of two papers made for a freer
exchange of opinion. They received the support of the two great
political parties of the Dominion, the “Lögberg” that of the
Liberals, and the “Heimskringla” that of the Conservatives. The
contents of both papers have always been very varied; in addition
to topical matter they have printed poems and stories, original
or translated, and they have also made a practice of extensively
reprinting articles from the papers and periodicals of the old
country.
In addition to these two, numerous papers and periodicals
(about 40 in all) have made their appearance from time to time.
Most of them were short-lived, and the only ones which still
exist are probably the monthly “Sameiningin,” which since 1885
has been the organ of the Icelandic Evangelical-Lutheran Synod,