Since 2010, Dr. Henrik Williams, the world’s leading runic scholar, has made visits to North America to give lectures and presentations as well as to examine runic and would-be runic inscriptions, do archival work, and meet with a number of people. The visits have been organized with the cooperation of the American Association for Runic Studies (AARS) and with the support by and financing through Uppsala University with the following goals:
- Spread knowledge to as many people as possible about runology
- Dispel unscientific notions about runic inscriptions and history in general
- Extend the Uppsala University and AARS brands among new constituencies
- Create a constituency with which we can communicate and interact in the future for the purposes of generating support for runology
- Raise funds for the process of establishing an endowed chair in runology at the University.
Altogether, Dr. Williams has provided 67 lectures and presentations, 22 inspections of runes, 10 archival visits, 57 meetings and other events, and 39 media interviews. The visits have taken him to 16 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and two locations in Canada. The visited states include Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington State.
Here are highlights and locations of the Runic Tours: