Icelandic Special Collections: Western Icelandic Archives

Arni Anderson was born on 25 May 1913 to Gudrun Helga Hallgrimsson (1877-1965) and Thorsteinn Andres Anderson (1880-1927) in Poplar Park, Manitoba. He attended Sheffield School, and as a young man, fished and worked on the family farm in Poplar Park. He married Martha Greening on 23 November 1938, and the couple had 3 sons, Allan, Russel, and Merle. Arni purchased the A & G Store in Libau, MB, from Einar Friðrick Guttormsson in 1953. Arni later sold the store and moved to Selkirk where he was worked at the Manitoba Rolling Mills until he retired early due to an accident at the mill. Arni passed away on 12 November 1996 in Selkirk, Manitoba.

The fonds has been organized into 2 series. In addition to personal items, the collection primarily contains records related to the general store run by Arni Anderson, such as an agreement of purchase, receipt books, and a calendar.

Guttormur J. Guttormsson was born on November 21, 1878, to Pálína Ketilsdóttir (1849–1886) and Jón Guttormsson (1841–1895) three years after the family emigrated from Iceland. He was born on his family’s farm near Riverton, MB, where he lived and worked as a farmer until his death. Having received little formal education, Guttormsson was largely self-taught, and is best known for his poetry, though he also published short stories, plays and essays. Although he was born and raised in Canada, he wrote exclusively in Icelandic and has been referred to as the "Poet Laureate of New Iceland." He was awarded the Distinguished Decoration of the Order of the Falcon (1939) and the Decoration of Grand Knight Commander of the Order of the Falcon (1949) by the Icelandic government. He died on November 23, 1966.

The records have been arranged into one series. The collection is made up of letters written by Vigfus Guttormsson to his brother, Guttormur J. Guttormsson. The subject matter of the letters is often biographical, discussing memories of growing up on the family’s homestead, Víðivellir, in Riverton, MB. Additionally, the collection contains one letter from Guttormur’s daughter, Hulda, to her cousin, Peter Guttormsson (son of Vigfus).

Reverend Rúnólfur Marteinsson (1870-1959) was born in Suður Múlasýsla to Martein Jónsson and Guðrún Jónsdóttir. In 1883, the family emigrated to Winnipeg, where he attended public school. Marteinsson earned a Bachelor of Arts from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, and graduated from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Chicago in 1899, becoming ordained as a Lutheran cleric in May of the same year. He married Ingunn Bardal (1873-1964) on June 30, 1900 in Winnipeg. Marteinsson served in various Icelandic communities across North America, including congregations in Gimli, Arborg, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. He also taught at Gimli Public School (1908-1910) and Wesley College (1910-1913). After his uncle, Reverand Jón Bjarnason, passed away in 1914, Marteinsson became Principal of Jón Bjarnason Academy, a position he held until the academy closed in 1940. From 1941-1948, he organized a Lutheran congregation in Vancouver before returning to Manitoba, where he died in Brandon on May 10, 1959. Reverend Jón Bjarnason (1845-1914) was a Lutheran minister, educator, and influential ecclesiastical leader among early Icelandic settlers in Canada. He attended grammar school in Reykjavík and graduated from the theological seminary in 1869, receiving ordination that same year. In 1870, Bjarnason married Lára Guðjohnsen, and the couple immigrated to the US, where he taught at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. In 1877, he accepted a call to the newly established Icelandic community near Lake Winnipeg, but soon after his arrival, theological differences between Bjarnason, a liberal, and fellow conservative cleric, Paul Thorláksson, created divisions within the colony. The Bjarnasons returned to Iceland in 1880 but moved back to Manitoba in 1884, where Jón took charge of the First Lutheran Church of Winnipeg. In 1913, he founded an Icelandic academy, which was named the Jón Bjarnason Academy after his death a year later in 1914.

The records have been arranged into 4 series. This fonds documents Marteinsson's career as a Lutheran cleric, and includes materials such as his weekly sermons, eulogies of Icelandic parishioners, manuscript materials, personal correspondence, and other church records. Many of the written materials contain valuable genealogical details of the Icelandic community in North America during the first half of the twentieth century. Additionally, the fonds contains materials relating to prominent clergyman, Reverand Jón Bjarnason, such as a handwritten speech describing his position in a major theological dispute, as well as a collection of letters written by Bjarnason to his nephew, Rúnólfur Marteinsson, which discuss the philosophy and politics of the Icelandic Lutheran Church.