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Mar 153 min read

Ari the Wise: Our Interesting Icelander for March 2024

By Gay Strandemo This month we continue learning about interesting Icelanders that were important to the settlement era of Iceland. As a...

Mar 153 min read

Nineteenth Century Education in/of Iceland: A Journey of Learning for Pliny Miles - 1852

By Brian Borgford “In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue.” People of a certain age will remember the little...

Feb 291 min read

All new! The Icelandic Connection literary journal

by Sharron Arksey Although the last print edition of The Icelandic Connection came out in the summer of 2023, the saga of the literary...

Feb 293 min read

Iceland: An Outsider's View (1845)

by Brian Borgford “I must confess that I found the character of the Icelanders in every respect below the estimate I had previously...

Feb 296 min read

Bibles in the Icelandic Immigration to North America: Part One

by Doreen M (Borgfjord) McFarlane At the time of the immigration, 1875–1914, nearly all Icelanders were baptised and confirmed in the...

Feb 164 min read

Margaret Willson Tells of Icelandic Seawomen

On March 4th, Icelandic Roots hosted a conversation with anthropologist and writer Margaret Willson. You may view her presentation here...

Feb 39 min read

What about the Vikings?

By Bryndís Víglundsdóttir In this paper, I intend to share information I have gathered about the Vikings from books, articles, and...

Jan 203 min read

Interesting Icelander for January 2024

By Shaune Jonasson Welcome to our first Interesting Icelander of 2024 who also happens to be an important part of this year’s theme, the...

Jan 202 min read

Book Club: February 2024

by Heather Goodwin Lytwyn On February 1st, the Icelandic Roots Book Club will feature the author Margaret Willson and talk to her about...

Jan 208 min read

Infant Mortality in Iceland

By Susan Huff As I studied my Icelandic family history, I noticed families where many of the children died in infancy. I made some...

Jan 2012 min read

Discovering the Land of Fire and Ice: What We Know about Iceland's Settlement

"So many men of lore claimed land, that the whole country was settled in the course of sixty winters so that since it has not been...

Jan 62 min read

The Power of the Word: The Mead of Poetry

By Karen Gummo A poet, dancer, and visual artist, Karen Gummo has been performing as a storyteller for almost 40 years in schools,...

Jan 62 min read

Going Where the Log Lands

By Rob Olason In 2023 Icelandic Roots explored the topic of the nineteenth-century emigration period in Icelandic history. Throughout the...

Nov 24, 20232 min read

November's Interesting Icelander

Árni Magnússon (I41634) 13 November 1663 – 7 January 1730 By Brian Borgford "And that is the way of the world, that some men put errors...

Nov 11, 20234 min read

Icelandic Roots Emigration Port Plaques

By Rob Olason In September 2023 a group of Icelandic Roots volunteers traveled to Iceland to dedicate four monuments in four emigration...

Nov 11, 20233 min read

Do You Care About Your Icelandic Heritage?

Yes. Of course, you care about your Icelandic heritage. That is why you are reading this! Ten years ago, on November 12, 2013, Icelandic...

Nov 9, 20232 min read

The Sagas of Vopnafjörður

Icelandic Roots Volunteer Cathy Josephson guides us on a literary journey through the Sagas of the Icelanders that take place in the...

Oct 29, 20233 min read

Why The Icelanders Left

By Sharron Arksey Why did thousands of Icelanders leave their homeland for North America in the late 1800s and early 1900s? The easy...

Oct 29, 20235 min read

The Vinland Sagas

The voyages to Vinland from Greenland are described in Eiríks saga rauða (The Saga of Erik the Red) and Grænlendinga saga (The Saga of...

Oct 15, 20233 min read

The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women

The Icelandic Roots Book Club for Thursday, Nov 2, 2023, will feature The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women with...