Stefan Jonasson Interview part 1

Duration of Audio Clip: 2:47

Transcription of Audio:

Stefan: I’m Stefan Jonasson. I’m the editor of Lögberg-Heimskringla, a position I have held for 10 years now, a little over 10 years. Lögberg-Heimskringla is the oldest ethnic periodical published in Canada, according to Library and Archives Canada. And so, we are essentially the premier ethnic publication in this country.

So, it was in 1886 that Heimskringla began publishing the second part of our name, Lögberg-Heimskringla. Heimskringla was founded by Frímann Anderson, who was its first editor, and it has published either alone or as part of Lögberg-Heimskringla since 1886. There were a couple of interruptions caused by financial distress for the paper. Heimskringla had a fairly precarious existence for its first two decades when it came to finances, but ultimately prevailed. Lögberg was founded a little less than two years later by Einar Hjörlefsson, later known as Einar Hjörlefsson Kvaran, a very prominent writer in Iceland and in North America. And he was editor for an extended period of time after the founding. Lögberg actually in its early years, had greater financial stability. Its capitalization was stronger. It had the backing of prominent business people in the community. So, it was in many ways the stronger, the more innovative paper. It was the paper with the largest circulation of the two.

The timing of their launch was significant, partly because this was the period when the Icelandic community, having been in North America for a little more than a decade, began to fragment somewhat. The community became increasingly fragmented politically. It became fragmented religiously. And there was already a fairly strong urge toward assimilation in the community. So, it was a perfect time for two newspapers to appear on the scene because they were each able to reflect the different interests of the community.