The land that Sigfús lived on in Nebraska was undulating, grassy and ideal for dairy cows. Photo: JÞ
Leifur Sigfússon moved to Nebraska in 1886 with his parents at the age of 4 and lived with them in the countryside not far from the village of Long Pine. He grew up there, may have attended school for one winter and may possibly have become a dairy farmer, which was the fate of most boys who became men there. But his father Sigfús was not happy, he had actually been through this area before, when he came west in 1873 to Wisconsin and was in the expedition sent by Icelanders in Milwaukee to explore lands in Nebraska in 1874. Sigfús received news from friends in Duluth, Minnesota who encouraged him to come there and set up a dairy, and he did. This change was fortunate for Leif, because from the rural bliss in Nebraska, he realized the opportunities in the fast-growing town of Duluth. He completed his primary and secondary education there, and further education was on his mind.
Teaching, long-term studies, employment
Leif’s book, Housing by Employers in the United States, came out in 1920.
Leifur studied ancient languages, Greek and Latin, in Duluth, enrolled in the University of Minnesota and graduated from there with a B.A. degree in 1905. He decided to teach for the next few years and taught Latin and Greek in middle schools across Minnesota, including Fergus Falls High School in 1906-1909. He then thought about further studies, moved east to Washington, DC where he read law at Georgetown Law School and graduated from there in 1915. Business matters, of any kind, fascinated Leif at the time and he welcomed the opportunity offered to him as a librarian at United States Bureau of Labor and later as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Labor. He was appointed department head and editor of the journal International Labor Review at the International Labor Office in Geneva, Switzerland in the years 1921-23. That work led to the position of Director of the Washington Department of the International Labor Office in the years 1924-1938. In the years that followed, he traveled far and wide in the United States and gave countless lectures on labor at universities, various institutions and associations. He was considered one of America’s foremost experts in the field of employment. He wrote and published countless books and articles on the subject since the 1920s.
English version by Thor group.