ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202

KENSINGTON RUNE STONE COLLECTION

COLLECTION: OGL #1040

DATES: 1909-1992

SIZE: 1.5 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The Kensington Rune Stone Collection was deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection in November 1985 (Acc. #85-1416). Additions were added in 1992 and 1995.

ACCESS: Available for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.

HISTORICAL SKETCH

The Kensington Rune Stone was discovered three miles northeast of Kensington, Douglas County, Minnesota in the fall of 1898. The Runestone remains a controversy to this day.

The controversy centers on the interpretation of the inscription. Translated it reads:

(We are) 8 Goths and 22 Norwegians on (an) exploration-journey from Vinland over the West. We had camp by 2 skerries, one days-journey north from this stone. We were (out) and fished one day. After we come home (we) found 10 (of our) men red with blood and dead. AV(e) M(aria) Save us from evil. (We) have 10 of our party by the sea to look after our ship(s?) 14 days-journey from this island. Year 1362.

Proponents of the Kensington Rune Stone see it as an artifact of great historical significance, as it alleges Norse visits to America before a century before the arrival of Columbus. The voyage would also have been 238 years after the last recorded Vinland voyage.

Opponents hold equally strong opinions. They argue it is absurd that 30 Vikings could in 1362, in fourteen days, penetrate from Vinland on the Atlantic coast as far west as Douglas County, Minnesota. They also contend that the inscription itself is much younger than the dates of the inscription.

The Kensington Rune Stone is on permanent display at the Runestone Museum in Alexandria, Minnesota.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Kensington Rune Stone Collection consists of articles, which are arranged in alphabetical order by author's last name. The articles have been photocopied from journals, magazines and newspapers to provide researchers with ready access to the literature surrounding the Kensington Rune Stone.

BOX AND FOLDER INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder

  1. Rasmus B. Anderson. “Another View of the Kensington Rune Stone” The Wisconsin Magazine of History 3 (June, 1920), 413-419.
  2. Johannes Bronsted. “Norsemen in North America before Columbus.” Smithsonian Institution. Annual Report. (1952-1953), 367-405.
  3. T.P. Christensen. “The Study of the Kensington Stone.” Annals of Iowa 3rd Series. 32 (April 1954), 297-301.
  4. Stefan Einarsson. “Review of the Kensington Stone, a study in preColumbian American History.” Speculum 8 (July 1933), 401-408.
  5. George T. Flom. The Kensington Rune Stone. Illinois State Historical Society Transactions 1910, 105-125.
  6. G.M. Gathorne-Hardy. “Alleged Norse Remains in America” Antiquity (December, 1932), 420-433.
  7. S.N. Hagan. “The Kensington Runic Inscription” Speculum 25 (July,1950), 321- 356.
  8. Thomas R. Henry. “The Riddle of the Kensington Stone.” Saturday Evening Post. 221, No. 8 (August, 1948), 109-110.
  9. Hjalmar R. Holand. “The C1imax Fire Steel.” Minnesota History 31 (December, 1947), 417-430.
  10. Hjalmar R. Holand. “Comment by H.R. Holand on all of Mr. Larson's Article Except the Last Three Paragraphs.” Wisconsin Magazine of History 4 (June, 1921), 387-391.
  11. Hjalmar R. Holand. “Concerning the Kensington Rune Stone” Minnesota History 17 (June, 1936), 166-188.
  12. Hjalmar R. Holand. “An Explorers Stone Record which Antedates Columbus.” Harper's Weekly 53 (October, 1909), 15.
  13. Hjalmar R. Holand. “First Authoritive Investigation of Oldest Native document in America.” Journal of American History 4 (April, 1910),165-184.
  14. Hjalmar R. Holand. “Further Discoveries Concerning the Kensington Rune Stone.” Wisconsin Magazine of History 3 (March, 1920), 332-338.
  15. Hjalmar R. Holand. “The Goths in the Kensington Inscription.” Scandinavian Studies and Notes 6 (May, 1921), 159-175.
  16. Hjalmar R. Holand. “The Kensington Rune Stone, is it the oldest Native Document of American History?” Wisconsin Magazine of History 3 (December, 1919), 153-183.
  17. Hjalmar R. Holand. “The Kensington Rune Stone Abroad.” Records of the Past 10, Part 5 (Sept. - October 1911), 260-271.
  18. Hjalmar R. Holand. “The Myth of the Kensington Stone.” The New England Quarterly 8 (March, 1935), 42-62.
  19. Hjalmar R. Holand. “The Origin of the Kensington Inscription.” Scandinavian Studies 23 (Feb. 1951), 23-30.
  20. Hjalmar R. Holand. “A Review of the Kensington Stone Research.” Wisconsin Magazine of History 36 (Summer, 1953), 235-239, 273-276.
  21. Hjalmar R. Holand. “The Truth About the Kensington Stone.” Michigan History 31 (December, 1947), 417-430.
  22. Hjalmar R. Holand. “Are There English Words on the Kensington Rune Records of the Past 9 Part 5 (Sept. - October 1910), 240-245.

Box 2
Folder

  1. The Kensington Rune Stone. Preliminary Report to the Minnesota Historical Society by its Museum Committee. Minnesota Historical Society Collections 15 (St. Paul, 1915), 221-286.
  2. Constant Larson. “The Kensington Rune Stone” n.d. n.p.
  3. Laurence M. Larson. “The Kensington Rune Stone.” Minnesota History 17 (March, 1936), 20-37.
  4. Laurence M. Larson. “The Kensington Rune Stone.” Wisconsin Magazine of History 4 (June, 1921), 382-387.
  5. Erik Moltke. "The Ghost of the Kensington Stone." Scandinavian Studies 25 (Feb. 1953), 1-14.
  6. T.J. Oleson. "The Vikings in America, A Critical Bibliography of Works Since 1939." Canadian Historical Review 36 (June, 1955) 166-173.
  7. T.J. Oleson. "The Vikings in America." Canadian Historical Association. Report of Annual Meeting. 1954.
  8. Milo M. Quaife. "A Footnote on Fire Steels." Minnesota History 18 (March, 1937), 36-41.
  9. Milo M. Quaife. "The Myth of the Kensington Rune Stone: The Norse Discovery of Minnesota 1362." The New England Quarterly 7 (December, 1934), 613-645.
  10. Milo M. Quaife. "The Kensington Myth Once More." Michigan History 31 (June, 1947), 129-161.
  11. Tryggvi J. Olseson. "The Vikings in America: A Critical Bibliography." Canadian Historical Review 36 (June, 1955), 166-173.
  12. C. Stewart Peterson. America's Rune Stone of A.D. 1362 Gains Favor. 1946.
  13. Francis J. Schaefer. "A Bibliography." Catholic Historical Review. 387-391.
  14. Francis J. Schaefer. “The Kensington Rune Stone.” Catholic Historical Review 6 (October, 1920), 330-334.
  15. H.A. Schwartz. “Who Discovered Black Heart Malleable.” Foundry 74 (May, 1946), 302-306.
  16. Lawrence D. Steefel. “The Kensington Rune Stone.” Minnesota Archaeologist 27 (1965), 97-115.
  17. William C. Thalbitzer. Two Runic Stones from Greenland and Minnesota. Washington: Smithsonian Institution 1951.
  18. Warren Upham. “The Kensington Rune Stone, Its Discovery, Its Inscriptions and Opinions Concerning Them.” Records of the Past 9 (January-February, 1910) 3-7.
  19. William S. Wallace. “The Literature Relating to the Norse Voyages to America.” Canadian Historical Review 20 (March, 1939), 8-16.
  20. M.T.R. Washburn. “Were there Fourteenth Century Christian Europeans in the Land that Became the U.S.?” Journal of American History 26 (1932), 121-145.
  21. Charles C. Wilson. “A Lawyer's View of the Kensington Rune Stone.” Minnesota History Bulletin 2 (February, 1917), 13-19.
  22. Darrel Koehler. “The Kensington Stone.” Grand Forks Herald, August 26, 1992, page 1C.
  23. Runestone souvenir from the Runestone Museum in Alexandria, Minnesota.
  24. Associated Press article regarding a book which claims that the Kensington Runestone is authentic. Grand Forks Herald, 21 October 1995.
 Original Donation  First Addition: 1964-2002
Second Addition: 2003-2006  

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