The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1956, Blaðsíða 52

50
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Summer 1956
Manitoba Professor Wins Recognition
Dr. Tryggvi Julius Oleson, associate
professor of history at the University
of Manitoba, has been awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship. The Guggen-
heim Foundation of New York awards
these fellowships “to men and women
who have already demonstrated un-
usual capacity for productive scholar-
ship”, to continue their studies in a
specialized field at an American Uni-
versity. This prize, of $4000.00 for one
year, is the highest award available to
Canadian scholars. Dr. Oleson has
elected to continue his specialized
study of the period of Edward the Con-
fessor (1042-1066) at Harvard Uni-
versity. In addition to the above, Dr.
Oleson has received a Nuffield Travel-
ling scholarship. This is awarded by
the Nuffield Foundation of England,
an a basis similar to the Guggenheim
Fellowship, to enable a scholar to visit
libraries and universities in Europe.
Each of these awards is a prize much
coveted by advanced students; to win
both in one year is an outstanding
achievement.
Dr. Tryggvi Oleson was born at
Glenboro, Manitoba. His father, G. J.
Oleson, was for many years editor of
the Glenboro Gazette; he is an out-
standing example of a man who has
acquired a wide education without
the benefit of attendance at school.
Tryggvi took his high school studies
at Glenboro; his B.A. and M.A. degrees
at the University of Manitoba; his Ph.
D. degree at the University of Tor-
onto. His doctor’s thesis, “The Witen-
agemot in the Reign of Edward the
Confessor” (published by the Oxford
University Press), aroused much inter-
est; it was reviewed with appreciation
by eminent historians in leading Brit-
ish journals.
Dr. Tryggvi Julius Oleson
On Saturday, June 9, there was an
informal gathering of some of
Tryggvi’s personal friends, in the
Swedish Male Voice Choir club rooms,
to congratulate him on winning these
awards and to wish him well on his
journey to Europe and his sojourn at
Harvard. This gathering was not
representative of any society or organ-
ization, but consisted of some thirty
personal friends who have valued his
friendship through the years. There
were family friends, who remembered
Tryggvi as a young boy; schoolboy
chums from elementary and high
school days; old cronies from under-
graduate days; men who have worked
with him in various organizations; and
university professors. These men,
representing all walks of life, were
evidence that Tryggvi has not secluded
himself in his studies, but has found
time to establish varied and enduring
friendships.
The master of ceremonies for the
occasion was J. G. Johannsson, who
has an inimitable faculty of making