The Icelandic connection - 01.12.2020, Síða 8

150
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 71 #4
largest collection of Icelandic materials
in Canada (the second largest in North
America — the largest being at Cornell
in New York). She oversaw the 27 000
item collection which is an important
hub for research in Icelandic studies and
a significant site of the preservation of
Icelandic culture and heritage in Canada.
Working behind the scenes during
that time as the magazine’s secretary and
eventually taking over the position of
editor is Lorna Tergesen, and there is of
course Elva Simundsson who, along with
their board, have worked together on this
publication since the 1980s. They have
kept this magazine thriving by preserving
the heritage of the descendants of
Icelandic people in North America
through the publication of scholarly
articles, book reviews, poetry, translations,
fictions, cultural event reporting and the
sagas in translation. But their time, like
the editors before them, is coming to an
end. And Icelandic Connection once again
enters another phase in its history. It is
my great honor to accept the position
of editor of this very fine, long-standing
publication.
Allow me to introduce myself. My
name is Elin Thordarson. From a lineage
perspective I am of Icelandic descent on
my father’s side. The ancestor that came to
Canada was named Erlendur Thordarson.
Him and his wife Sigurbjorg settled in
Winnipeg. My langafi was Frederick
Thordarson who by the time the Winnipeg
Falcons were setting sail for Antwerp was
on the team’s executive board and stayed
home because of the birth of one of his
four children. One of whom was my
Auntie Shirley McCreedy who served for
a long time with Icelandic Connection, her
brother David Thordarson - an architect
with GBR in Winnipeg — was my
grandfather. My father was the late Jon
Thordarson, a photographer with several
of Winnipeg’s newspapers over time and
became the photo editor at the Winnipeg
Free Press. I received my Masters of Arts
degree from the University of Manitoba’s
Icelandic Department in 2011 studying
under Dr. Birna Bjarnadottir. My thesis
examined the plays of Guttormur J.
Guttormur. And with Dr. Christopher
Crocker we managed to translate his
volume entitled Tiu leikrit into English as
Ten Plays. Since then I have been writing,
translating, parenting and working in
the children’s department at Winnipeg’s
largest library.
Since Laura Goodman Salverson
published the five point mission
statement in a 1942 volume of The
Icelandic Canadian, this magazine has
always featured the lifeworks of Icelandic
descendants as a means of preserving the
cultural heritage. It’s my aim as I take
over the editorship of Icelandic Connection
to feature the academic research of
people studying Icelandic culture, or to
introduce readers to native Icelandic
scholars and the projects they are working
on. I intend shortly to send out a call for
papers to universities that have Icelandic
or Scandinavian Studies Departments
to target scholars that have committed
themselves to the study of Iceland. It’s my
belief that academic scholarship is a kind
of cultural heritage and making ourselves
acquainted with the scholars and students
interested in Iceland is yet another way
to preserve the cultural heritage of the
descendants of the Icelandic immigrants
in North America. I will also be accepting
essays, fiction, journals, translations,
poetry, reviews from non-academic
sources. If there is something you would
like to share please send a copy to editor#
icecon.ca and I will be happy to read it.
Takk krerlega.
— Elin Thordarson