Go back

Audio clip from an interview with Ragnar Gislason, 1989

Black and white photograph of a ceremonial procession in a formal chamber. A man in glasses leads the procession, holding an ornate, dragon-headed ceremonial staff. Behind him, another man in a suit follows. Rows of people in formal attire are seated and standing in the background, with large curtains and classical architectural features framing the scene.

Image courtesy of The Winnipeg Tribune, March 5, 1975

Audio: “The Winnipeg Icelanders” – Ragnar Gislason, tape 1 of 5, 13 February 1989, Icelandic Canadian Frón Fonds, Archives of Manitoba (1990-204)

Bio: Ragnar Gislason was born on September 14, 1906, in Elmwood, Manitoba. His parents were Hjálmar Gíslason from Norður-Múlasýsla, Iceland, and Sigríður Björnsdóttir from Suður-Múlasýsla, Iceland. Ragnar died on November 8, 1997.

Duration of Audio Clip: 2:50

Transcription of Audio:

Laurence Gillespie, interviewer: Were books very important in your home?

Ragnar Gislason: Oh yeah, books were very important. As a matter of fact, that’s how my dad made his living later on. He was a bookseller.

Laurence Gillespie: What was your father’s name?

Ragnar Gislason: Hjálmar Gíslason

Laurence Gillespie: And did he have a store?

Ragnar Gislason: Yes, on Sargent Avenue.

Laurence Gillespie: And when would that have been?

Ragnar Gislason: Well, it would be sometime around 1920, 1919, 1920. And at that time, when he first went down to Sargent Avenue, when we first moved to the West End, he was in partnership with some other men, and they published a newspaper, which they published for three years. It was called Voröld. And it was the same type of paper. It was a weekly paper like the Lögberg and the Heimskringla. Not many people around now that know that there ever was another Icelandic paper published on Sargent Avenue. But it was. I remember the presses and the linotype machine. They got a man from Iceland to operate the linotype machine, that could set Icelandic, you see. The linotype operator here couldn’t set Icelandic because they didn’t know the language. They couldn’t read it, so they had to get a guy from Iceland.

Laurence Gillespie: What caused this paper to get started? What were the factors that got it going?

Ragnar Gislason: Oh, I don’t know. I wasn’t old enough to be interested in politics, but I think it was politics, political motivation But I wasn’t interested in that. I don’t know what caused it, but it never did … it was never a financial success. My dad wasn’t a particularly good businessman anyway in that way. Money was not important to him.

Laurence Gillespie: What partners did he have in it?

Ragnar Gislason: Well, Sigurður Júlíus Johannesson, he was the editor, I guess, or he was the mainspring in it. And there were other men, which I don’t know because I didn’t take much interest. Don’t forget, I was 14 years old, and I was not interested in an Icelandic paper. But I remember it.