The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2000, Side 7

Vol. 55 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
305
Editorial
by Sigrid Johnson
Early in the last decade an idea was pro-
posed that the Fiske Icelandic Collection at
Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and
the Icelandic National Library in Reykjavik
jointly host an exhibition on the Icelandic
sagas. However, as the years passed it was
decided that an exhibition should be mounted
to coincide with the beginning of the new mil-
lennium as well as 1000th anniversary of
Leifur Eiriksson’s discovery of America. As a
result, plans were made to design a larger
exhibition to be shown at the National and
University Library of Iceland and Cornell
University Library as well as the Library of
Congress in Washington D.C. As well the
Icelandic Collection of the University of
Manitoba Libraries in Winnipeg, as this area
is the home to the largest concentration of
descendants of Icelanders who emigrated to
North America in the latter part of the nine-
teenth century. The resulting exhibition,
“Living and Reliving the Icelandic Sagas,”
opened at the National and University Library
of Iceland on March 1, 2000.
“Living and Reliving the Icelandic Sagas”
is organized into ten sections, each with a spe-
cific theme: Icelandic Origins: the Time
before the Sagas; The Saga Age and the
Icelandic Family Sagas; Snorri Sturlusson
(1197-1241); Women in a Changing Society;
Christianity in Iceland: the Year 1000;
Romances, Mythical-Heroic Sagas and Epic
Verse; The Reformation in Iceland and the
Introduction of Printing; Humanism and
Romanticism; Icelandic Literature in North
America; and The Influence of Icelandic
Literature on Anglo-American Literature and
Popular Culture. Accompanying these the-
matic areas is a multimedia presentation that
is accessible on computers in the exhibition
area.
The exhibition was designed in Reykjavik,
but with the participation of the libraries at the
various exhibition sites. Most of the manu-
scripts in the exhibition are from the National
and University Library of Iceland. Two man-
uscripts are from the Library of Congress,
four from the Icelandic Collection of the
University of Manitoba Libraries and one is
from the Fiske Icelandic Collection of the
Cornell University Library.
Printed books on display, along with maps
and other documents are from the Library of
Congress, the Icelandic Collection of the
University of Manitoba Libraries, the Fiske
Icelandic Collection of the Cornell University
Library and the National and University
Library of Iceland. In the foreword to the
exhibition catalogue the National Librarian of
Iceland, Einar Sigurdsson, says, “never before
has there been an exhibition of as many note-
worthy manuscripts and books that preserve
the cultural heritage of Icelanders as well as
important information about the history of
North America.”
This unprecedented exhibition continued at
the National and University Library of Iceland
until April 30. The North American tour of
“Living and Reliving the Icelandic Sagas”
opened at the Library of Congress in
Washington, D.C. on May 24 and remained
there through July 15. From August 15
through October 10 , the exhibition will be on
display in the Division of Rare and
Manuscript Collections of the Cornell
University Library. When Iceland’s Prime
Minister, David Oddsson, visits the
University of Manitoba on October 20 he will
officially open the exhibition together with
the new home of the Icelandic Collection of
the University of Manitoba Libraries. “Living
and Reliving the Icelandic Sagas” will contin-
ue at the Icelandic Collection, its final venue,
through December 15. We hope to see you
there at this “once in a lifetime” exhibition of
historic Icelandic manuscripts and books.