Boer received his Ph.D. in 1888 from the
University of Groningen for his edition of
Örvar-Odds saga. From 1888 to 1900, he taught Dutch and geography at the
gymnasium in
Leeuwarden. He was also a professor of Old Norse at Groningen from 1894 to 1900, and after 1900, professor of
Old Germanic and
Sanskrit at the
University of Amsterdam. In 1921, the study of Scandinavian languages was officially established at the University of Amsterdam. R.C. Boer maintained his focus on Old Norse and Old Norse literature, and in the 1920s, his teaching extended to the modern Scandinavian languages (
Danish,
Norwegian, and
Swedish) and their literature. ==Publications==