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The Irregulars Trust Newsletter FOR THE SAKE OF THE TRUST

Volume 2, Issue 2 Winter 2007 The Prestige Archive by Nicholas Utechin BSI

Soon after Colin Prestige - one of the tainable via a narrow walkWay of highly four Founding members of The Sherlock polished oaken floorboards, with a shaky Holmes Society of London - died at the balustrade, high above the well of the li- end of2003, I was contacted by one of his brary proper. I think there were fifteen former legal partners who was dealing medium-sized cardboard boxes of 'stuff, with his papers. Would I, on behalf of none of which had yet been catalogued. the Society, be interested in looking at Colin's collection, with I needed three visits to go through it all. Society papers were an especial view to identifYing Society relatively easily identifiable: large numbers material? I replied that I would indeed. of old meetings announcements, Annual Everything was especially easy, since Dinner menus, notes for formal speeches Colin had left his collection to his old Oxford college, Oriel, and I live about a at Society meetings, and suchlike. But Colin, while an efficient horder, was em- Colin Prestige, BSI mile away as the crow flies. phatically not a systematic one. There The task at that stage seemed straightfor- were so many envelopes, so many letters ward. Colin had, of course, been at the stuffed into small folders - nothing that very heart of Society affairs since 1951 one could risk not looking at. and was known to have been an inveterate And thus it was that I began to spot the horder. Although his papers were part of trans-Atlantic correspondence in which his formal bequest to Oriel, his family In This Issue: Colin was engaged during the early-to- made it clear to me that any specifically mid 1950s. To a Holmesian of my (or, THE PRESTIGE ARCHIVE Society material that I could spot could be indeed, any) vintage, the names of Edgar extracted and passed back to the Society W. Smith, Jay Finley Christ, James "The Contents of the 3 for its own archive. Montgomery and Nathan Bengis ring Bag ... " On my first visit to the college, I was able immediate bells, and letters to and from quickly to scan (for my own interest), the them demand serious perusal. Those NOTES FROM THE 3

Sherlockian books amassed by Colin. To four esteemed Irregulars were already es- CO-CHAIR be perfectly honest, there was little of any tablished figures - authors, editors, collec- especial interest there. The Oriel Librar- tors. Colin was not long out of univer- THE CARDINAL POINTS 4 ian, Marjory Szurko - who could not have sity, had just helped found the Sherlock been more helpful throughout the whole Holmes Society, waS beginning to be a ABOUT DONATIONS TO 4 process - then escorted me to a small THE TRUST room above the college Library, only at- Continued on Page 2 The Prestige Archive Continued from Page 1

collector in his own right and was - to be Two things struck me quite quickly: one, perfectly honest - just a touch star-struck that this correspondence might be pub- and anxious to impress. lishable and two, that this slim file of letters deserved a better home than, The period covered by this correspon- frankly, the relatively inaccessible shelves dence - 1952-7 - was an exciting one for of an Oxford college. Marjory Szurko "Theperiod covered Sherlockians, with news from both sides had already made it fairly clear to me of the ocean eagerly reported and chewed by this that while they were certainly going to over. Montgomery was writing his Christ- hold on to all the books in the bequest, mas Annuals, Bengis was a manic collec- correspondence- about the papers and other materials they tor, Smith was running everything and I could possibly be more open-minded. 1952-7 - was an dearly wish that Prestige had kept more Having already long ago received permis- than merely two letters from Christ to exciting onejOr sion for the Sherlock Holmes Society give more insight into his doings. Adrian papers to be taken out of the bequest, I Conan Doyle had taken the Festival of Sherlockians, with knew that the worst that the College Britain Holmes exhibition over to the authorities could do would be to say 'no' newsfrom both States; he had also co-authored The Ex- to my request to pass on this rare and ploits of Sherlock Holmes. The Sherlock special correspondence to a more fitting sides of the ocean .Holmes Society of London had a London home: and that home was obviously go- underground train named after the Mas- eagerly reported ing to be the B.S.I. Archives at Harvard. ter, and went on an early excursion down The Provost and Fellows of Oriel effec- and chewed over. " the river Thames in Sign of Four country- tively 'nodded through' the request. I and didn't Prestige's correspondents want suspect that they were rather impressed copies of every photograph available?! that Harvard would be interested, and Indeed, what I found most fascinating that this was not a moment to stand about this whole little spotlighted ex- upon any sort of ceremony! change of letters is the sheer fantastic en- thusiasm shown therein: the willingness I am also rather pleased that my occa- to share discoveries, to talk about found sionally slow thought processes were for treasures, to try and get over the moun- once acute enough to spot the potential tainous problems of currency conversions in this correspondence to make a Christ- and what one could or could not send over mas Annual for , the Atlantic in those far-off days. and that Steven Rothman not only felt the same way but was interested enough In these days of email, I enjoyed the in one or two apparent dead-ends to squashed handwriting of all five protago- come up with some useful research of his nists and the speed with which they re- own. Buy the Annual and then, in the plied to each other (I had to ask myself on fullness of time, seek out the originals in occasion whether any of them actually Harvard and relive a truly fascinating held down a day job, or, if they did, had period for true followers of Sherlock any ordinary out-of-hours life that did not Holmes. involve Sherlockian correspondence!). I must add, teasingly, that there is exposed a certain personality trait of one of the gentlemen involved which I found com- Nicholas Utechin B.S.L ('The Ancient pellingly reprehensible. British Barrow') was Editor of The Sherlock Holmes Journal from 1976 to 2006. . Page2 Volume 2, Issue 2

"The Contents of the Bag ... "

In order to capture the spirit of the Baker Street Irregu- given at the 2006 dinner lars, the BSI Trust has requested copies of the papers and Julie McKuras BSI-her toast given to Watson's second toasts given at BSI dinners and events. A number of peo- wife at the 2003 dinner ple have graciously contributed those copies. Scott Monty BSI-His toast, "The Canon I Read" set Richard Caplan BSI - his toast to Sherlock Holmes to the music of "The House I Live In" given at the 2003 given at the 1981 dinner as well as a copy of his August 1, dinner 1984 letter to John Bennett Shaw regarding The Younger Hartley Nathan BSI-his paper "Sherlock Holmes in Stamfords ofIowa City scion status Canada" given at the 2002 dinner Joseph Coppola BSI-his toast to given at the 2006 dinner as well as the M ycroft Holmes If you have a copy of a toast or presentation given at the Society's 2006 Dinner Souvenir booklet BSI Dinner or other BSI event, please contact: Allan Devitt-his presentation "Holmes, You Old Julie McKuras BSI Goat" given at the 2006 BSI Silver Blaze brunch as well as 13512 Granada Ave. a copy of the program Apple Valley, MN 55124 Susan Diamond BSI-her toast given to Mycroft at the Or email [email protected] 2004 dinner Bill Dorn BSI-his toast given to Watson's second wife Donations to the Trust at the 2004 dinner Terry Belanger Andrew Fusco BSI-his presentation about Julian WolffBSI given at the 2005 dinner Dave M. Hershey- in memory of Walter Klinefelter Gideon Hill BSI-his toast to Mrs. Hudson given at Carol Russell-in honor of Marilyn Macgregor's 80th the 2005 dinner birthday William Hyder BSI-his presentation given at the 2003 dinner as well as his 2001 toast to Sherlock Holmes SPM Enterprises Roger Johnson BSI-his presentation about The Sher- Bill Sturtz lock Holmes Society of London given at the 2002 dinner Andrew Joffe BSI- The Friends of Bogie's on Baker Please note that all financial contributions are listed in the Street skit given at the 2004 dinner alphabetical order of the donor's last name, and that all Kate Karlson BSI-her toast to Mycroft given a the donations will be listed without specifying the giving level 2000 dinner and her paper "Holmes the Gambler" given at of that donation. 2000 Saratoga event Francine Kitts BSI-her toast to Watson's second wife

Notes from the Co-Chair

At the behest of our wonderfully efficient (and insistent) newsletter editor, I would like to take advantage of this plat- form to wish Sherlockians everywhere a happy and prosperous new year. I would also like to thank our brethren for their support of the Baker Street Irregulars Trust in 2006, and pray that this will continue, and expand, in 2007 and beyond. I promised to keep this correspondence terse; as always, our dear Holmes (even in the third century of his 'being') had something to say about such matters:

"My correspondence has certainly the charm of variety, and the humbler are usually the more interesting." (The Adven- ture of the Noble Bachelor)

Page 3 FOR THE SAKE OF THE TRUST BSITTrust Officers The Trust is a special part of the Baker Street Irregulars, the literary society dedicated to the study of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Trust is designed to collect, archive and preserve historical docu- Michael F.Whelan, Wiggins ments for the study of Sir , Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, the Victorian world and Leslie S. Klinger, Secretary the individuals and organizations like the BSIthat have devoted themselves to such studies. The Trust has Glen S.Miranker, Acquisitions Constantine Rossakis, Fundraising a special interest in preserving materials relating to the history of the BSI,its members and friends. Andrew G. Fusco The Trust archive is located in the Houghton Library at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachu- Daniel Posnansky setts. The archival material may be used by any qualified Sherlockian, subject to the normal rules and Steven Rothman regulations of the library. With assistance from Peter E.Blau, Special Advisor The Cardinal Points Bob Coghill, Archivist Bill Vande Water, Archivist Our thanks go to Nicholas Utechin for his article about Colin Prestige and the Julie MeKuras, Newsletter Editor donation of his correspondence to the BSI Trust. His description of The Oriel Library's small room brings to mind the library in the film The Name of the Rose, and the papers themselves must have caused Nick to utter the same words that a

This is Volume 2, Issue 2 of The Baker strange old book collector said to Dr. Watson in "The Empty House": "It looks a Street Irregulars Trust newsletter. You bit untidy, does it not, sir?" Unsystematic as he must have been, we are thankful received this copy because you are on that collectors such as Colin Prestige kept such wonderful materials. The Baker the mailing list of The Baker Street Journal or you are a member of the Street Journal's 2006 Christmas Annual: Quartering in the Fifties covers the corre- Baker Street Irregulars. If you are not spondence in much greater detail. If you haven't already ordered your annual, interested in receiving further issues, check The Baker Street Journal website at or have comments and/or sugges- tions, please contad http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com for ordering information. Julie McKuras 13512 Granada Ave. JuL~e Mc,Kurtll$, A5f-t, 1;51 Apple Valley, MN S5124

Or, send email to: [email protected] About Donations to the Trust

The Trust seeks primary materials . about the history of the BSI and the Ir- regulars. These may consist of corre- The Trust is a 501(c)(3) organization spondence, photographic and audio ma- and contributions are tax-deductible under terials, manuscripts of historical docu- Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Ser- ments, biographical material, newspaper vice Code. clippings and magazine articles. It can also accept valuable Sherlockian books To deduct a non-cash donation of that may be sold to raise funds for the $5,000 or more, the donor must arrange Trust. and pay for a qualified appraisal. Contri- butions will be publicly acknowledged; for The Trust does not intend to create a non-cash items, however, tax regulations collection that duplicates the Sherlock prohibit the Trust from acknowledging the Holmes collections of the University of dollar value of the donation in this news- Minnesota or the Arthur Conan Doyle letter or The Baker Street Journal. Collection of the Toronto Metropolitan Reference Library and so does not ac- The initial step in making a donation is tively seek editions of the Canon or to contact one of the trustees. You can find scholarly works unless the material has a contact information on the Baker Street direct bearing on the history of the BSI or Irregulars Trust web site, www.bsit.org.

For a wealth of information, please visit the Baker Street Irregulars Trust on the web at www.bsit.org.