Highlight of the month

Selma Jónsdóttir (22 August 1917 – 5 July 1987) was the first Icelander to finish a degree in Art History and the first woman to receive a doctorate from the University of Iceland. Selma finished an undergraduate degree in Art History from Columbia University in New York in 1944. She continued her studies at Columbia…

Hólmfríður Sigurðardóttir was a dean’s wife in Vatnsfjörður in Ísafjarðardjúp. She was born January 9, 1617, at Hróarsholt in Flói so now there are 400 years since her birth. Rev. Geir Markússon’s eulogy dedicated to Hólmfríður along with her life story and and a commemorative poem by rev. Jón Guðmundsson are preserved in the script…

The Women’s House Hallveigarstaðir opened its doors half a century ago, on 19 June 1967. The idea of the house came up half a century before that, shortly after women gained the vote in 1915. There were quite a few women’s groups at that time in Reykjavik and so they gathered to create a federation…

Sigurður Ólafsson was born in Reykjavík on 4 December  1916 and died 13 July 1993. He was for a long time one of the nation’s best-known singers. In a singing career that lasted about 50 years, he sang with choirs, at funerals, with dance-bands and in song concerts. Besides he sang a few opera roles…

The singer Hallbjörg Bjarnadóttir (1915–1997) was born at Hjallabúð in Fróðárhreppur parish on the peninsula Snæfellsnes. Her parents were Geirþrúður Kristjánsdóttir and Bjarni Hallsteinsson. She had a twin sister, Kristbjörg and a younger sister, Steinunn, who both were singers and actresses, living in England. Bjarni, their father, was a sailor who died when Hallbjörg was…

Árni Thorlacius (1802-1891) was one of the founders of a reading club in Stykkishólmur in 1841, which in 1847 became the Municipal Library of the West Region in 1847). The library was at first situated in the Norwegian House which was built by Árni. He was influential in the battle for independence and took part…

The Icelandic Chinese Cultural Society,  KIM, was founded in Reykjavík 20 October 1953. The society promotes relations between Iceland and the Chinese in the fields of culture and art. It is independent of the government, both domestically and in China and is a non-political association of persons interested in the cultural relations between Iceland and…

This drawing showing a “wheel of fortune” comes from a manuscript from the middle of the 19th century. It portrays a well-dressed girl in the middle of a wheel held by four men in elegant clothing. Perhaps these are her possible suitors. The man at the top of the wheel has a crown on his…

Among Icelandic musicians Elsa Sigfúss (1908-1979) is probably the one who published most albums.  Around 120 albums with her singing have been released. Elsa Sigfúss was the daughter of composer Sigfús Einarsson (1877-1939) and Valborg Einarsson (1882-1985) who was Danish (b. Hellemann). Elsa was born in Reykjavík but moved at an early age with her…

Webpages and other material published or made accessible on the Icelandic part of the world wide web, i.e. in the national domain .is, along with other material published in other domains in Icelandic or by Icelanders, is preserved by The National and University Library and made accessible on the domain vefsafn.is.  The plan is to…

In 1776-1818 Iceland’s coastal areas were surveyed and maps drawn that were printed later on. Although the coastal surveys were an important step forward people still had to wait before a satisfactory map of the whole country was made, of both inhabited and uninhabited areas. One of those who thought this was a very important…

The 160 years’ anniversary of the birth of Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir is currently commemorated. She was an entrepreneur in the fight for gender equality in Iceland. She was born on the 27th of September 1856 and died in 1940. Whilst still young she began pondering equality issues, especially the different opportunities the sexes had to obtain…