Editing Leif Erikson (section)

=== Travels and commemoration ===

[[File:Leif Erikson 6c 1968 issue.JPG|thumb|upright|Erikson [[commemorative stamp]], issued 9 October 1968, Leif Erikson Day]]
Stories of Leif's journey to North America had a profound effect on the identity and self-perception of later [[Scandinavian American|Nordic Americans]] and Nordic immigrants to the United States.<ref name="dregni"/> The first [[Statue of Leif Erikson (Boston)|statue of Erikson]] (by [[Anne Whitney]])<ref>[[Alan Forbes|Forbes, Alan]] and Ralph M. Eastman, "Some Statues of Boston: Reproductions of some of the statues for which Boston is famous, with information concerning the personalities and events memorialized", State Street Trust Company, Boston MA 1946 and Forbes, Alan and Ralph M. Eastman, "Other Statues of Boston", State Street Trust Company, Boston MA 1947.</ref> was erected in [[Boston]] in 1887 at the instigation of [[Eben Norton Horsford]], who was among those who believed that Vinland could have been located on the [[Charles River]] or [[Cape Cod]];<ref name="dregni"/> not long after, [[Leif, the Discoverer (Whitney)|another casting of Whitney's statue]] was erected in [[Milwaukee]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Buck |first1=Diane M |last2=Palmer |first2=Virginia A |title=Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee: A Cultural and Historical Guidebook |publisher=The State Historical Society of Wisconsin |location=Madison |year=1995 |pages=9–12 |isbn=978-0-87020-276-6}}</ref> A statue was also erected in [[Chicago]] in 1901, having been originally commissioned for the 1893 [[World's Columbian Exposition]] to coincide with the arrival of the reconstructed [[Viking (replica Viking longship)|Viking ship]] from [[Bergen]], Norway.<ref name="dregni"/> Another work of art made for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the painting ''[[Leiv Eirikson Discovering America]]'' by [[Christian Krohg]], was in the possession of a Leif Erikson Memorial Association in Chicago before being given back to the [[National Gallery of Norway]] in 1900.<ref name=snl2>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Leiv Eiriksson oppdager Amerika|encyclopedia=[[Store norske leksikon]]|publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|url=http://www.snl.no/Leiv_Eiriksson_oppdager_Amerika|language=no|access-date=2 December 2011|archive-date=4 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004220049/http://snl.no/Leiv_Eiriksson_oppdager_Amerika|url-status=live}}</ref>

For the centenary of the first official immigration of Norwegians to America, President [[Calvin Coolidge]] stated at the 1925 [[Minnesota State Fair]], to a crowd of 100,000 people, that Leif had indeed been the first European to discover America.<ref name="dregni"/> Additional statues of him were erected at the [[Minnesota State Capitol]] in [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]] in 1949, near [[Lake Superior]] in [[Duluth, Minnesota]], in 1956, and in downtown [[Seattle]].<ref name="dregni"/>

In 1924, a party of four consisting of a Swede, an Englishman, and two Americans attempted to emulate Leif's voyage in an eponymous 40-foot vessel but were lost after reaching the west coast of Greenland.<ref name=LThomas>{{cite book|title=The First World Flight|url=https://archive.org/details/firstworldflight0000thom |url-access=registration|last=Thomas|first=Lowell |author-link=Lowell Thomas |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|date=1925|place=Boston & New York}}</ref>{{rp|267}}

In 1930, a [[Statue of Leif Erikson (Reykjavík)|statue of Leif]] was erected in the city center of Reykjavík, Iceland – currently situated in front of [[Hallgrímskirkja]] – as a gift from the United States to Iceland to commemorate the 1,000 year anniversary of [[Alþingi]], the parliament of Iceland.<ref name="Helgason Eliason McMahon Sigurþórsdóttir 2015">{{cite web | last1=Helgason | first1=Magnús Sveinn | last2=Eliason | first2=Matt | last3=McMahon | first3=Sara | last4=Sigurþórsdóttir | first4=Sunna Karen | title=Ten fascinating facts about the statue of Leifur Eiríksson | website=Icelandmag | date=2 November 2015 | url=https://icelandmag.is/article/ten-fascinating-facts-about-statue-leifur-eiriksson | access-date=16 June 2020 | archive-date=8 March 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308151317/https://icelandmag.is/article/ten-fascinating-facts-about-statue-leifur-eiriksson | url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Leif Erikson Awards]], established 2015, are awarded annually by the [[The Exploration Museum|Exploration Museum]] in [[Húsavík]], Iceland. They are awarded for achievements in exploration and in the study of the history of exploration.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exploration Awards – The Exploration Museum |url=https://www.explorationmuseum.com/awards/ |access-date=30 March 2022 |language=en-US |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331074241/https://www.explorationmuseum.com/awards/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Several ships are named after Leif – [[Leif Erikson (ship)|a Viking ship replica]], [[MV Leif Ericson|a commercial passenger/vehicle ferry]],<ref>{{cite web |title=MV Leif Ericson Ferry – Vessel Information {{!}} Marine Atlantic |url=https://www.marineatlantic.ca/onboard-experience/our-fleet/mv-leif-ericson |website=www.marineatlantic.ca |access-date=30 March 2021 |archive-date=19 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319205847/https://www.marineatlantic.ca/onboard-experience/our-fleet/mv-leif-ericson |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Leif Ericsson (Ro-Ro/Passenger Ship) Registered in Canada – Vessel details, Current position and Voyage information – IMO 8917388, MMSI 316001216, Call Sign VOCJ |url=https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:379831/mmsi:316001216/imo:8917388/vessel:LEIF_ERICSON |website=www.marinetraffic.com |language=en |access-date=30 March 2021 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415122358/https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:379831/mmsi:316001216/imo:8917388/vessel:LEIF_ERICSON |url-status=live }}</ref> and a large [[dredging|dredger]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The world's largest dredger in the Gulf of Gdansk |url=http://www.polandatsea.com/leiv-eiriksson-the-worlds-largest-dredger-in-the-gulf-of-gdansk/ |website=Poland at Sea – maritime economy portal |date=11 June 2019 |access-date=30 March 2021 |archive-date=25 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225143106/http://www.polandatsea.com/leiv-eiriksson-the-worlds-largest-dredger-in-the-gulf-of-gdansk/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Erikson is recalled as ''Leif the Lucky'' in the [[Robert Frost]] poem ''Wild Grapes.''<ref name="ref5">{{cite web
 |title        = Wild Grapes Robert Frost 1874 – 1963
 |publisher    = Poets.org
 |author       =
 |date         =
 |quote        = Grapes, I knew grapes from having seen them last year.<br>One bunch of them, and there began to be<br>Bunches all round me growing in white birches,<br>The way they grew round Leif the Lucky's German;
 |url          = https://poets.org/poem/wild-grapes}}</ref>

==== Leif Erikson Day ====
{{main|Leif Erikson Day}}
In 1929, the [[Wisconsin Legislature]] passed a bill to make 9 October "Leif Erikson Day" in the state, and in the years following, several other states adopted laws to observe the day.<ref name="Hansen">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.nb.no/leiveriksson/leiv_carl.html |chapter=Leif Erikson Comes to the Front |title=My Minneapolis |first=Carl Gustav Otto |last=Hansen |author-link=Carl G. O. Hansen |location=Minneapolis |year=1956 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091207042512/https://www.nb.no/leiveriksson/leiv_carl.html |archive-date=7 December 2009}}</ref> In 1935, legislation was introduced to the [[United States Congress]] requesting federal observance of the day. Before the legislation was passed, it was amended so that the observance would only occur in 1935<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=16 September 1935 |title=Leif Erikson Day Oct. 9 Proclaimed |work=The Green Bay Press-Gazette |location=Green Bay, WI |page=5 }}</ref> (which it was, following a proclamation that year by President President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/llsalvol.llsal_049/?sp=3718 |last=Roosevelt |first=Franklin D. |author-link=Franklin D. Roosevelt |title=The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from January 1935 to June 1936. Vol 49, part 1, pages 3468–3469 |publisher=Government Printing Office}}</ref> In the subsequent decades, a number of unsuccessful attempts were made to pass legislation requesting Leif Erikson Day be proclaimed annually by the president.<ref>{{cite report |last=Tollefson |first=Thor C. |author-link=Thor C. Tollefson |date=4 March 1964 |title=Leif Erikson Day: Hearings before Subcommittee No. 4 of the Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ID0vAAAAMAAJ |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington |page=5 |access-date=30 July 2023 |quote=For quite a few years, and even prior to the time that I first came to Congress, similar resolutions had been introduced, seeking to have October 9 declared Leif Erikson Day. All of the previous efforts have been unsuccessful.}}</ref> Proponents eventually succeeded, when, in 1964, the Congress authorized and requested the president to proclaim 9 October of each year as "Leif Erikson Day".<ref name="dregni"/> In the years since, each president has issued an annual proclamation calling for observance of the day.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guttormsen |first1=Torgim Sneve |date=2018 |title=Valuing Immigrant Memories as Common Heritage: The Leif Erikson Monument in Boston |journal=[[History & Memory]] |publisher=Indiana University Press |volume=30 |issue=2 |page=99 |doi=10.2979/histmemo.30.2.04|s2cid=166186978 }}</ref>

The Sagas do not give the exact date of Leif's landfall in America, but state only that it was in the fall of the year. At the suggestion of Christian A. Hoen of [[Edgerton, Wisconsin]], 9 October was settled upon for Leif Erikson Day, as that already was a historic date for Norwegians in America, the ship ''[[Restauration (ship)|Restaurationen]]'' having arrived in [[New York Harbor]] on 9 October 1825<ref name=Hansen/><ref>{{cite press release|title=Leif Erikson Day, 2009|publisher=[[White House Office of the Press Secretary]]|date=7 October 2009|first=Barack|last=Obama |author-link=Barack Obama|access-date=20 November 2011|url= https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamation-leif-erikson-day |url-status=live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170214182413/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamation-leif-erikson-day |archive-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> from [[Stavanger]] with the first organized party of Norwegian immigrants.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Aarek |first=Hans Eirik |date=2000 |title=A Short History of the Troms Quakers And their Emigration to America |journal=[[Norwegian-American Studies]] |volume=35 |page=92 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |doi=10.1353/nor.2000.a799212 |s2cid=258610849 |quote=Conflict with the Norwegian authorities was one of the main motivations for emigrating to America. Quakers were not allowed to live everywhere in Norway...This led to the first organized emigration in 1825.}}</reF>