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

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KENSINGTON RUNE STONE COLLECTION

COLLECTION: OGL #1040

DATES: 1909-2008

SIZE: 2.5 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The Kensington Rune Stone Collection was deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection by various people at various times.

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 controversial 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 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 thirty Vikings could, 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 journal and magazine articles, newspaper clippings, publications, and oral history interviews. The Department of Special Collections also has numerous books regarding the Kensington Rune Stone. Please consult ODIN, the library catalog, to search for these titles

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.
  25. Theodore Blegen, “Frederick J. Turner and the Kensington Puzzle.” Minnesota History, Winter 1964
  26. Minnesota Historical Society Oral History Interview Data Sheet for the Gran Tapes: 1967 and 1970
  27. Erik Wahlgren. “Reflections Around a Rune Stone.” Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, January 1968
  28. Birgitta Wallace. “Some Points of Controversy,” in The Quest for America. Praeger Publishers, 1971
  29. “The Case of the Gran Tapes: Further Evidence on the Rune Stone Riddle.” Minnesota History, Winter 1976
  30. Stephen Williams. Selection from Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991
  31. Erik Drilen, “Maybe the Vikings Made it Norse America,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 24 May 1992
  32. Rolf Nilsestuen, “Evidence Shows Kensington Runestone is No Fake,” Minneapolis Star Tribune. 12 July 1992
  33. Minnesota Historical Society. Roots. “Vikings in Minnesota: A Controversial Legacy.” 1993
  34. Peg Meier. “Hoax or History?: The Kensington Rune Stone is Minnesota’s Contribution to the Bermuda Triangle of Artifacts Seeking the Stamp of Authenticity.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 1 March 1995
  35. Richard Nielsen. “Early Scandinavian Incursions into the Western States.” Journal of the West, January 2000
  36. Marc Stengel. “The Diffusionists Have Landed.” Atlantic Monthly, January 2000
  37. Michael Lemonick and Andrea Dorfman. “The Amazing Vikings.” Time, 8 May 2000
  38. Arne Brekke, “Heyerdahl: The Kensington Rune Stone is Genuine.” 14 November 2000
  39. Peg Meier. “Geologist Thinks Runestone not a Hoax.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 29 November 2000
  40. Handout from the Midwest Archaeology Conference, November 2000
  41. David Knutson. “Just How Old is the Kensington Runestone?” Grand Forks Herald, 10 December 2000
  42. Walter Gibbs. “Did the Vikings Stay: Vatican Files May Offer Clues.” New York Times, 19 December 2000
  43. Barry Hanson. “The Kensington Runestone: Physical Features, Past and Present.” Journal of the West, Winter 2001
  44. Michael Zalar. “16th Century Cartography, Plat Maps, and the Kensington Rune Stone.” Journal of the West, Winter 2001
  45. Peg Meier. “2nd Runestone a Hoax, Say Two Who Claim to Have Carved It.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 6 November 2001
  46. Minnesota Archaeological Society Newsletter, Fall 2002
  47. Chuck Haga. “This Time It’s True: Viking Artifacts in Minnesota.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 18 November 2002
  48. Peg Meier. “Smithsonian’s 2nd Opinion: Runestone is a Fake.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 30 November 2002
  49. Melbourne Christopher and St. John Barrett. Lions of the Sea . 2006

Lions of the Sea is a novel written by Melbourne Christopher and published in 2006. St. John Barrett is noted as the collaborative author. The novel tells about the voyage of a Swedish landowner named Birger Ulfsson to find lost colonists for the King of Sweden. Ulfsson is given a map of the new world of Vinland by his mother and starts on his voyage. He and his men do not find the colonists in Vinland, Greenland or Nova Scotia so they continue south through Lake Winnipeg and the Red River. While exploring the surrounding area, Pall Knutsson, one of his men revolts and tries to kill Ulfsson but the plan backfires, and Knutsson and ten other men are killed by a local tribe. The story of this massacre is told on the Kensington Runestone. On Ulfsson’s trip home he finds the lost colonists and is named Chancellor of the Realm for King Haakon of Sweden.

 

  1. Peg Meier. “Farmer who found Runestone is not a fraud, family says.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, September 6, 2004
  2. Rhonda Gilman. “The Kensington Runestone: A Century of Controversy.” Journal of the West, Summer 2005
  3. Peg Meier. “Kensington Runestone looking more like a fake.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 8, 2004
  4. Kensington Runestone Museum Brochure, undated
  5. “Runestone heads to Sweden to be studied.” Grand Forks Herald , October 5, 2003
  6. Grand Forks Herald Interview with Scott Wolter, a geologist who has written several books about the Kensington Rune Stone: January 13, 2007
  7. Scandinavian interview with Scott Wolter: Winter 20008

SEPARATIONS RECORD

Also included are two oral history interviews on audio cassette tape from the Minnesota Historical Society. The tapes were separated and placed in the Audio Tape Collection. Tape #2050 is a 1967 interview with (Frank) Walter Gran and Josephine (Gran) Carson. Tape #2051 is a 1970 interview with Walter Gran alone. In the interviews, the Grans report that their father, John Gran, chiseled the stone as a hoax along with Olaf Ohman, on whose property the stone was found. The originals for both tapes are kept by the Minnesota Historical Society.

Tape #2050 Interview with (Frank) Walter Gran and Josephine (Gran) Carson, 1967
Tape #2051 Interview with (Frank) Walter Gran, 1970

 

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