Donation of Library to University of Iceland (2024)
Over the past twenty-five years, I have been the custodian of a large library of books that had been assembled by our parents during their lifetime. The books were written in both English and Icelandic. They included prose, poetry and storytelling, dominantly by emigrants from Iceland, and their descendants in North America. With our parent’s passing, the challenge became “what to do with the books”.
During a trip to Iceland in 2022, I asked Professor Birna Bjarnadóttir at the University of Iceland if they would be interested in these books. She expressed immediate interest, as this happened to be a perfect “fit” with her research activities at the University of Iceland.
The origins of this interest go back to Vigdís Finnbogadóttir. Vigdís was a keen student of languages, drama, and theatre. She studied at the Universities of Grenoble and the Sorbonne in France, at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, and in Denmark. She also studied and taught at the University of Iceland.
Vigdís is the first woman in the world to be democratically elected as Head of State. She is also the longest serving female Head of State in history. She served as President of Iceland for four terms, from 1980 to 1996.
After her presidency, she became founding Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders, in 1997. In 1998, she was appointed President of UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology. In 2000, she was appointed U.N.’s Goodwill Ambassador in the fight against racism and xenophobia. She is Head of the Board of Trustees of the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights. She is also a member of the Club of Madrid.
She had been well recognized for her efforts in promoting linguistic diversity. In 2017, the Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and International Understanding of Multiculturalism (House of Vigdís) was established at the University of Iceland.
Professor Birna Bjarnadóttir, born in Iceland, served as Head of the Icelandic faculty at the University of Manitoba, from 2003 to 2015. She returned to Iceland in 2015, and has dedicated her time, since then, to developing a special research centre, in the House of Vigdís, dedicated to the literary writings of Icelandic emigrants and their descendants in North America. A special Endowment Fund was established in 2017, called the Stephan G Stephansson Fund, in tribute to one of the great Icelandic contributors to Icelandic prose and poetry in North America. Stephan emigrated from Iceland in the late 1800’s, as part of the large emigration at that time, when more that 25% of Iceland’s population left Iceland, dominantly to North America. The Fund is being supported by the Governments of Iceland and Canada, as well as by individual benefactors in North America.
So, the offer of gifting the library, assembled by our parents during their lifetime, proved to be a perfect fit. Birna, I, and others, have worked for the past two years in getting the transfer accomplished. Icelandair, generously, transported the books at their own cost from Toronto, directly to the University, in Reykjavík. ITN Logistics in Toronto and Keflavík, managed all logistics coordination, again at their own cost. My son, Thor, developed eight websites for ensuring that there was a complete inventory of the books being donated. All of this was completed earlier this year.
In August of this year, I contacted Birna to see if there might be interest in organizing a small event for formally gifting the books to the library. Giancarla and I were travelling to Norway in September, and could stop in Reykjavík, on route, if that was of interest. Birna responded enthusiastically to this offer and proceeded to expand this into a significant University event. With this development, things mushroomed. Alda agreed to also attend this event. After she accepted, her two daughters, Denise and Leslie both agreed to attend the event, as well as my son, Thor. This was immediately followed by decisions by five of our nine grandchildren, that they would also attend.
The presentation itself was given to an audience of about 50 people in the House of Vigdís. This included President Jón Atli Benediktsson, President of the University, dignitaries of the Government of Iceland, Canada’s Ambassador to Iceland, and several family relatives in Iceland. After the formal presentation, there was a special reception, followed by dinner at the world-renowned Ristorante La Primavera, on the top floor of Iceland’s modern Harpa Concert Hall. Next day, Alda and I met with the Honorable Lilja Alfredsdóttir, Minister of Culture and Business Affairs, and with Prime Minister, Bjarni Benediktsson. They both expressed gratitude for the special gift to the University.
The events were reported in Iceland’s national newspaper, Morgunblaðið, and in Lögberg-Heimskringla, North America’s long serving Icelandic newspaper.
This is not the end of the story. Birna, I, and others, have been in discussion with the Icelandic National Leagues for both Canada and the United States, with the goal of progressively expanding the library in Iceland. There is keen support and momentum for this ongoing initiative.
Óskar Sigvaldason
December 23, 2024
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