Defending Winchell


addressing the idea that Winchell was Holland's puppet

In an attempt to undermine Winchell's work on the Minnesota Historical Society report on the Kensington Rune Stone, Wahlgren insinuated that the report was virtually written by Holand, and in doing so suggests that Winchell's works is corrupt and should be ignored. However to quote Blegen:

"Winchell seems, by reason of his energy and interest, to have guided the deliberations of the committee. He visited Kensington three times, and gathered considerable information that he recorded in a handwritten notebook or field book. Much of the data used in the committee's report reflected his knowledge of geology and information on the Kensington find that he gathered on his visits. On the other hand, correspondence in the Minnesota Historical Society's files show that he relied heavily on Holand for analysis of the language of the inscription both in the main text and in attempts to refute linguistic criticsms" (Blegen p 70)
This is the only point that Blegen makes regarding Holand's supposed influence in the writing of the report. Wahlgren seems to have based his impression on a letter sent by Holand to Winchell on Apr 7, 1910 in which Holand having received a handwritten copy of the report and made some suggestions regarding it (Winchell also received responses from Bothne and Flom regarding the report).
I have done an examination of that letter, comparing it to the final report, and found that 14 of Holand's suggestions were ignored; One case where Holand corrected a misquote of himself; 2 cases where Winchell used some of Holand's suggestion and disregarded other parts, and 4 cases where Holand's suggestion was used outright - 2 of which were in the appendix refuting Flom. Winchell disregards 2 other suggestions Holand had about the appendix, as well as other linguistic suggestions in the main text. Also it should be noted that in the report Winchell contradicts Holand regarding the date of the discovery of the stone. In short, the letter disproves the idea of Holand having any major influence on the report, as Winchell disregards a vast majority of Holand's suggestions. To attempt to make Winchell, a highly respected geologist, a puppet of Holand verges on outright slander, and should be ignored.

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