Literature of the Americas Literature of the Americas 2541-7894 2542-243X IWL RAS https://www.doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2018-4-195-218 Articles Kensington Runestone and Its Literary Life 2018 Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The stone covered with runes was discovered in 1898 on the farm of a Swedish immigrant Olof Ohman near Kensington, MN. The inscription told of the Scandinavians' short stint in this land. One day some of them went fishing. When they returned, they found ten of their fellows massacred by the natives. The Runestone has led researchers on an exhaustive quest to explain how a runic artifact, dated 1362, could show up in North America. The Kensington Runestone is an important piece of American history and it has been a point of interest and pride, controversy and contention. The Runestone is considered a hoax by some scholars today, but it remains an important icon to Scandinavian-Americans. The Scandinavian immigrants knew Icelandic sagas about their Viking ancestors being in America in the Middle Ages; the Kensington Runestone for them was an authentic relic of Scandinavian travel in the New World over a century before Columbus. Currently this historic artifact has an important and persistent role in Scandinavian-American folk culture. For Scandinavian-Americans, that regard the Vikings as heroic explorers, the Kensington Runestone is closely tied to the national and cultural identity. The Runestone appears in literature: a Canadian writer Laura Salverson published in 1954 a historical novel “Immortal Rock” to bring to life the unknown page of North American history. 1. Adam Bremenskii. “Deianiia arkhiepiskopov gamburgskoi tserkvi.” [Adamus Bremensis. Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum] In Slavianskie khroniki. [Slvonic Chronicles] Moscow: Russkaia panorama Publ., 2011. S. 7–151. (In Russ.) 2. Amerika. Severnaia i Tsentral'naia, [Northern and Central America] comp. by G.I. Tsareva Moscow: Izdatel'stvo V.P. Tsareva Publ., 2004.(In Russ.) 3. Berg, K. “Är Kensingtonstenen kulturarv?” Historiska Nyheter. Special (2003): 3. Online at http://www.kensingtonrunestone.com/HN_kensington.pdf 4. Craig, T.L. “The Confessional Revisited: Laura Salverson’s Canadian Work.” Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en littérature canadienne 10:1 (1985). Online at https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/scl/article/view/8024/9081 5. “The Croatan Indians of Robeson.” Fayetteville Observer (February 12, 1885)  6. 7. Holand, H.R. De Norske Settlements Historie. Ephraim (WI): Priv. Print, 1908. 8. Holand, H.R. “First Authoritative Investigation of Oldest document in America.” Journal of American History 4:1 (1910): 165–184. 9. Holand, H.R. The Kensington Stone: A Study in Pre-Columbian American History. Ephraim (WI): Priv. Print, 1932. 10. Holand, H.R. My First Eighty Years. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1957. 11. Kehoe, A.B. The Kensington Runestone: Approaching a Research Question Holistically. 12. Long Grove (IL): Waveland Press, 2005. 13. The Kensington Rune Stone: preliminary report to the Minnesota Historical Society. St. Paul (MN): Published by the Society, 1910. 14. Krueger, D.M. Myths of the Rune Stone: Viking Martyrs and the Birthplace of America. Minneapolis (MN): University of Minnesota Press, 2015. 15. Mullen, M. “Why the Kensington Runestone is Minnesota's Favorite Myth.” 16. News City Pages (April 13, 2016). Online at http://www.citypages.com/news/why-the-kensington-runestone-is-minnesotas-favorite-myth-8197218 17. “Myths of the Rune Stone.” Online at https://mythsoftherunestone.com/ 18. Ohman D. “The Ohman Family.” Online at http://www.kensingtonrunestone.us/html/_ohman_family.html 19. “Olof Ohman’s Runes.” Time (Oct. 08, 1951). Online at https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/scl/article/view/8024/9081 20. Salverson, L.G. Immortal Rock: The Saga of the Kensington Stone. Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1954: ix. 21. Strauss, M. “Discovery Could Rewrite History of Vikings in New World.” National Geographic (March 31, 2016). Online at https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160331-viking-discovery-north-america-canada-archaeology/ 22. Taylor, E. G. R. “A letter dated 1577 from Mercator to John Dee.” Imago Mundi: The International Journal for the History of Cartography 13:1 (1956): 56–68. 23. Wahlgren, E. “The Case Of The Kensington Rune Stone.” American Heritage 10:3 (April 1959). Online at https://www.americanheritage.com/content/case-kensington-rune-stone 24.