One thousand years ago, a pioneering Icelandic woman came to the New World and gave birth to the first child of European descent in North America. She then returned to Iceland and later went to Rome on pilgrimage, very likely giving the Vatican a first-person account of her journeys. Her name was Gudrídur Thorbjarnardóttir, and her story is just one facet of "Living and Reliving the Icelandic Sagas," the fall exhibition on display in Cornell University's Kroch Library through Oct. 10.

The Kroch Library exhibition gallery, on level 2B, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1-5 p.m. on Saturdays.

"Living and Reliving the Icelandic Sagas" is an initiative of Cornell University Library, the National and University Library of Iceland, the Library of Congress and the University of Manitoba Libraries. It already has been shown in Iceland and at the Library of Congress, and it moves on in October to Winnipeg. The final venue on the international tour of the exhibition, slated for January 2001, is Scandinavia House--The Nordic Center in America in New York City, home to the American--Scandinavian Foundation.

The exhibition chronicles the history of Icelandic saga literature and consists of scores of items, including Icelandic paper manuscripts never seen before in North America and a selection of rare printed books from Cornell Library's renowned Fiske Icelandic Collection. With more than 39,000 volumes, the Fiske Collection is the most comprehensive compilation on Old Norse literature, Icelandic civilization and Nordic medieval studies in the Western Hemisphere.

An interactive media presentation (IMP) designed by staff at the National and University Library of Iceland accompanies the exhibition of rare books and manuscripts. The IMP, accessible from computers in the entrance lobbies of Cornell's Olin and Uris libraries as well as in the Kroch exhibition gallery, utilizes digital images and an electronic tutorial to create an in-depth complement to "Living and Reliving the Icelandic Sagas."

"Gudrídur Thorbjarnardóttir, who lived between the cultural worlds of receding Norse paganism and advancing Christianity, is emblematic of medieval Iceland's restless, brilliant spirit," said Patrick J. Stevens, Fiske Collection curator. "Her story, which is documented in both the Saga of Eric the Red and the Greenlanders' Saga, is a remarkable tale and reflects the dynamic role Icelandic women have played throughout their country's history."

Stevens added that "visitors to this unique exhibition will want to keep Gudrídur in mind as they contemplate the precious manuscripts and rare books that have preserved so much of Iceland's -- and America's -- early heritage."

For more information about "Living and Reliving the Icelandic Sagas," contact Stevens at (607) 255-3530, email pjs3@cornell.edu or visit the web site at http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/fiske.