Every month the National and University Library of Iceland picks one item from its collections and tells its story: a manuscript, photograph, map, poster or letter that has lain untouched for decades. Some of the items are well known; others have never been shown in public.
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The women’s list of 1908
A women’s list stood in the Reykjavík municipal elections of 1908. Kvenréttindafélag Íslands (the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association) called the boards of the women’s societies in Reykjavík to a meeting on 2 November 1907 about the municipal elections to be held in January 1908. Under a new law on municipal elections in Reykjavík, voters’ wives…
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Kvennasmiðja (Women’s Workshop)
On 24 October 1985 women held outdoor meetings to draw attention to their position. About 18,000 people, mostly women, are thought to have attended the meeting on Lækjartorg. The day’s demands for fair pay for women’s work were prominent. 1985 was the last year of the United Nations Decade for Women, and many other events…
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The grammar school opens its doors
In 1904 Iceland gained home rule with a minister of its own. The king chose Hannes Hafstein as minister. One of his first official acts was to change the regulations of Hinn lærði skóli (the Learned School) so that it opened its doors to girls, and it was renamed Hinn almenni menntaskóli (the General Grammar…
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Women raise a flag of Iceland’s own
On 2 August 1897 a national commemoration festival was held in Reykjavík. Such a festival was first held in 1875 to celebrate the constitution, and the custom had continued, with some breaks (a trace of it remains in the Westman Islanders’ national festival). Among the events was a procession from Lækjartorg to the meadows at…
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Drög að jarðeldasögu Íslands (A draft history of Iceland’s volcanic eruptions)
Since the settlement, Eyjafjallajökull has erupted four times: first around 920, then in 1612, 1821 and now in 2010. The Manuscript Collection of the National and University Library of Iceland holds a description of the eruption of 1821. It is in the manuscript ÍB 11 fol, a draft history of Iceland’s volcanic eruptions compiled by…
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Women’s suffrage and Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir
On 19 June it will be 95 years since King Christian X signed an act of Alþingi (the Icelandic parliament) giving Icelandic women the right to vote for Alþingi; men had had that right fairly generally since 1875. Icelandic members of parliament did, however, set the condition that women had to be forty or older…
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Íslandssaga handa börnum (A history of Iceland for children) and the educator Jónas frá Hriflu
This year marks 125 years since the birth of Jónas Jónsson frá Hriflu, who was born on 1 May 1885. He was one of the most controversial and most respected Icelandic politicians of the last century. Jónas made his mark in other fields too and was a great pioneer in education. He was a proponent…
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Áslaug Torfadóttir’s letters to her father, Torfi Bjarnason of Ólafsdalur
Áslaug Torfadóttir’s letters to her father, Torfi Bjarnason, are the Highlight of the month for April. There are about 50 letters in all, which Áslaug sent in 1887–1914. Áslaug Torfadóttir when she was a teacher at Ögur Áslaug Torfadóttir was born on 17 May 1869, the daughter of Guðlaug Zakaríasdóttir (1845–1937) and Torfi Bjarnason (1838–1915).…
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Aldrei að víkja (Never give way)
In 1909 the Western Icelander A. J. Johnson (Andrés Jónsson of Ásbúð) published in Winnipeg a series of postcards dedicated to well-known Icelanders. The cards show photographs of the men concerned, with the blue-and-white flag and a coat of arms with a falcon on a blue ground in the background. The flag and the coat…
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The first Icelandic novel
Piltur og stúlka, dálítil frásaga (Lad and Lass, a little tale) by Jón Þórðarson Thoroddsen is regarded as the first Icelandic novel. It is a romantic love story whose main characters are Indriði and Sigríður. The story begins in Hérað in the east of Iceland and then moves to Reykjavík. It praises country life but…
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The struggle of good and evil in a children’s book by John Ruskin
Kóngurinn í Gullá (The King of the Golden River) is a children’s book written in the style of a folk tale. It tells of a valley where people live a good and happy life. The story is about three brothers. Two of them are very selfish and cruel and are unwilling to pay their tithe…
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Aldarsaga Landsbókasafns Íslands 1818–1918 (A centenary history of the National Library of Iceland)
At the beginning of the last century the National Librarian Jón Jacobson (1860–1925) wrote a commemorative history of the National Library of Iceland, 1818–1918, a major work published in 1920. Jón tells the history of the library year by year in the form of annals. First there is an introduction on the background to its…