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| Photo: Icelandic National League of Iceland |
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| Photo: Fréttablaðið |
We were honored by the invitation to speak at the annual meeting of the Icelandic National League (Þjóðræknisfélag Íslendinga). This is a truly unique organization that aims at maintaining the connections between Iceland and the Icelandic diaspora that went West at the turn of the 19th century.The United States is proud to have welcomed those immigrants; over the last centuries many of them have made enormous contributions not only to the United States but to the world. A case in point is Holger Cahill (born as Sveinn Kristján Bjarnasson), the Icelandic-born Director of the WPA Federal Art Project which introduced art to hundreds of small towns in America during the Great Depression. Like Cahill there are many other “West Icelanders” who have made great contributions to the United States, and the Icelandic National League is keeping that spirit alive.
