The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1961, Blaðsíða 30

28
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Winter 1961
Canada Iceland Foundation and the
Icelandic Canadian Club Scholarships
The first step taken for the laying
of a foundation, on a permanent basis,
for the preservation of inherent values
in Icelandic language and literature
in this country, was the establishment
of the Chair in Icelandic at the Uni-
versity of Manitoba. Now that this
has been done and a professor, Har-
aldur Bessason, occupies the position
of Head of the Department of Icelandic
at the University, the next step to take
is to make provision for scholarships,
equally on a permanent basis, to be
awarded promising students taking Ice-
landic or who, during their academic
course, show an interest in Icelandic
studies by attending evening or other
lectures given by the Professor of Ice-
landic.
These students, on graduation, will
become ambassadors of ithe best in the
Icelandic heritage. Primarily the ser-
vice they will be able to render,
wherever they go, will rest upon their
knowledge of Icelandic acquired at
the University, but even if restrictions
in the selection of language studies
and limitations dictated by the courses
seleoted, should make it impossible for
some of these students to do more than
attend lectures in Icelandic language,
literature and history, that in itself
will be a valuable cultural asset. It
will be particularly valuable in that it
will enable these graduates to help
make known the close philological
relationship between Old Icelandic and
Old English.
A short time ago two funds became
available to the Foundation for scholar-
ship purposes. The Icelandic Good
Templars deposited with The Win-
nipeg Foundation the sum of $4000.00
the interest on same to be available to
the Canada-Iceland Foundation to be
awarded by it or a committee of same
in accordance with conditions set out
in an agreement between the Officers
of the Good Templars, the Canada-Ice-
land Foundation and The Winnipeg
Foundation. At the same time monies
became available out of the estate of
the late George (GuSmundur) Walgar
Magnusson, Swedish Masseur, in the
sum of $2000.00, donated by his
mother, Porunn Karadotdr of Iceland,
the interest to be used for scholarships
for students of Icelandic extraction.
Last spring The Icelandic Canadian
Club appointed a scholarship com-
mittee of three composed of the follow-
ing:
Halldor S. Stefansson, Chairman
J. T. Beck
Judge W. J. Lindal, secretary.
A notice over the signature of the
Chairman was inserted in both Log-
berg-Heimskringla and The Icelandic
Canadian inviting high school students
of Icelandic extraction planning to
take a university course, to submit ap-
plications for scholarships. A surpris-
ingly large number of applications
were received. The committee selected
five as meriting a scholarship and chose
one of them for the Icelandic Canadian
Club Scholarship. It then handed all
five applications to the chairman of
the Canada-Iceland Foundation Schol-
arship Committee which, by that time,
had been duly set up.