A Family Affair

Now that the dust has settled in Iceland (for a little while anyways), we thought it might be nice to revisit the island through the lens of Hal Linker, his wife Halla and their son David. In these clips from Volcano Adventure in Iceland (1970), Halla Linker, herself a native of Iceland, explains some of the benefits of volcanic energy. The family was also able to record part of the eruption at Mt. Hekla, Iceland's most active volcano. The Linkers produced travelogue films for a southern California television station from the 1950s through the 1970s. Their popular broadcasts were syndicated in 45 American television markets and shown to the armed forces.

Last week David Linker paid a flying visit to the Human Studies Film Archives on his way home from a conference in the area. Donor visits are rare in this archive since most of our individual donors are either no longer living or are no longer mobile. David Linker grew up over the course of this travelogue series and it was a pleasure to talk to him about his father's work and to hear him describe his personal experiences.

David (now Dr.) Linker doesn't appear in the clip above except in narration, but he does appear in clips of Afghanistan and Petra on HSFA's YouTube Channel. Even after all these years he is still absolutely recognizable as the boy/teenager/young man who hosted the series with his parents. You can view descriptions of more films in the series here.

Daisy Njoku, Human Studies Film Archives