March 2015 Volume 19 Number 1 March 2009 D S O F N Volume 13 Number 1 E T 50 Years Ago...Continued from Page 3 I H R E bottle of Courvoisier plus one fifth of the history of the scion mentioned earlier, The physical book is an interesting F New Jersey cognac, with the note: ‘Tell Thomas Hart reports that a publication artifact in itself, featuring quarter bind- the bartender to serve the Courvoisier fund was established as early as 1952 ing with textured morocco-colored first. Then by the time the Sons get to (with the princely sum of $4.00.) Hart, as endpapers of the same stock as the the New Jersey cognac, they may not treasurer of the Publication Committee, covers. spot the difference’” (250). Today, goes on to apologize to the membership Lellenberg says of Starr, “I’m convinced for “his many exhortations for funds, and Leaves from The Copper Beeches was fol- Sherlock Holmes that Julian Wolff [who took over leader- many stern admonitions against failure, lowed up by a second volume, More ship of the Baker Street Irregulars under made at meetings” over the years. Leaves from The Copper Beeches, in COLLECTIONS the title “Commissionaire” after Smith’s 1976. The Sons are still flourishing as untimely death in 1960] would have an active scion society; perhaps some- “Your merits should be publicly recognized” (STUD) retired as Commissionaire sooner than he day we will be able to look forward to did if Bill Starr had not died at a some- a third volume. what early age in 1976 and had been Contents around in the early ’80s to take over.” John Bergquist, BSI Francine and Wayne Swift By Peter E. Blau, ASH, BSI Leaves from The Copper Beeches was par- Francine and Wayne Swift tially financed by contributions from Illustration by H.W. Starr, captioned “The appeal t has been said that marriages between two Sherlockians are the most permanent. members of the Sons, who are listed in for the Publication Fund,” printed in Jon 1 Many Sherlockians have found it easy enough to persuade a spouse to enjoy the Lellenberg’s Irregular Crises of the Late ’Forties the acknowledgments. In his memoir of Sherlockian world, but when two people who already are Sherlockians marry they (New York, 1999) Continued from Page 2 100 Years Ago I will sooner or later merge their collections, as well as their lives. And there is no custody battle, whether over the car, the house, the pets, or the children, that can possi- 2 bly match the difficulty of dividing a collection that has no duplicates. Reminiscences of Austin J. McLean So for two Sherlockians it’s a matter only of the better, and never the worse. That cer- 50 Years Ago tainly was true of Wayne B. Swift and Francine Morris, who were Sherlockians when 3 they met for the first time. Francine started her Sherlockian life in Texas, where she was Remembrances a librarian; she founded The Sub-Librarians Scion of the Baker Street Irregulars in the From the President American Library Association, and In supporting the Sherlock Holmes Collections, many donors have made 4 was one of the founders of The contributions either in honor or in memory of special persons. Practical, But Limited, Geologists at an informal luncheon in the Zodiac In Honor Of From Musings Room at Nieman Marcus in Dallas. Peter Blau Arthur E.F. Wiese Jr. 4 When she moved to Washington she Fred Levin Cliff Goldfarb quickly became a member of The Red Circle, and was one of the ring- In Memory Of From An Update from leaders in planning the society’s full- Paul Churchill John Baesch and Evelyn Herzog For any inquiries contact: the Collections fledged costume party at the Paul Churchill Thomas Drucker Timothy J. Johnson, Curator 5 National Press Club. Paul Churchill Warren Randall 612-624-3552 or Wayne was from Nebraska, an elec- Joseph Gillies Michael Kean [email protected] of The Sherlock Photo courtesy Holmes Collections Allen Mackler Patricia Nelson Recent Acquisitions Wayne and Francine Swift trical engineer and a teacher, and an Allen Mackler Once Upon A Crime Mystery Bookstore Sherlock Holmes Collections 5 early convert to the world of com- Allen Mackler Philip Swiggum Suite 111, Elmer L. Andersen Library puters. When he moved to Washington he decided to take an adult-education course in Beatrice McCaffrie John Lockwood University of Minnesota Sherlock Holmes at a local community college and soon attended his first Sherlockian E.W. McDiarmid Michael Brahmey 222 21st Ave. S. To the Editor function, a running of The Silver Blaze (Southern Division) at Pimlico Race Track in E.W. McDiarmid Jim DeLeo Minneapolis, MN 55455 6 Maryland, where he and Francine quickly discovered they shared more than an interest E.W. McDiarmid Jeffrey Klaus Telephone: 612-626-9166 in Sherlock Holmes. They courted , and wed, and had many happy years together, shar- E. W. McDiarmid Peter Klaus FAX: 612-625-5525 ing a multitude of interests, Sherlockian and otherwise. Robert Pattrick Vincent Brosnan A Beacon of the Future Mailing list corrections requested— Wayne became a member of The Baker Street Irregulars in 1978 (as “The Giant Rat of Jan Stauber Alexian Gregory Because of the high cost of returned newsletters, 6 Jan Stauber Francine and Richard Kitts we would appreciate being informed of changes Sumatra”). Francine became a member of The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes in Tom Stix Karen Anderson of address or other corrections. 1977 (as “Hatty Doran”) and was honored by the BSI as The Woman in 1983, and Dr. Richard Sturtz William Sturtz Remembrances awarded her Irregular Shilling and Investiture in 1994 (as “The Wigmore Street Post Timothy J. Johnson, Curator 8 Continued on page 6 A particularly important coup was of a maverick in the Library system and 8 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 1 securing the involvement of Steele’s material, books and other memorabilia relating to their father to Minnesota. often had to work against an administra- children, Robert, Zulma and Anne, in- tion perhaps less sympathetic than it has cluding the loan of important materials Austin arranged funds for me to travel to Zulma’s home in Westport, Con- subsequently become — I often profited and much information sent through the from his struggles both from employ- postal service in the days before e-mail. necticut to pack up the materials for shipment (I brought some of the more ment opportunities and from the quality Austin arranged to have Robert Steele of the publications he arranged to be appear as one of the speakers at the important and portable ones back with me on the plane). This was a thoroughly produced. Following 1987, I swam out Sherlock Holmes conference (his sister Zulma came as enjoyable job, as very little actual work of Austin’s orbit as the necessity of mak- COLLECTIONS well), and he delivered a touching and ing a living took precedence over the informative memoir of his father (sub- was involved and I was taken around to see various FDS sites by Zulma and her more enjoyable Holmesian pursuits. The sequently published in a special Steele “Your merits should be publicly recognized” (STUD) visiting brother Robert from the time arrival of the Shaw and Meiser collec- issue of the Baker Street Miscellanea tions, and others including the Vincent No. 67 for Fall 1991). This 1984 gath- the family lived in the area. I was further employed to prepare an inventory of Starrett and Howard Haycraft materials, ering was the first of a series of world and Austin’s contributions to the litera- class Sherlock Holmes conferences in the collection for cataloging and tax Contents purposes. Another brochure resulted, ture have been detailed in Tim Johnson’s The Adventure of Sherlock Seattle Minnesota which have now become a essay noted in the first paragraph of this Timothy J. Johnson triennial tradition. this one called The Frederic Dorr Steele Memorial Collection (1987), which article (including some of his adminis- E.W. McDiarmid Curator of the Sherlock Holmes Collections trative tussles!) and other places – these The 1983-1984 period also saw the was distributed at the Baker Street Ir- The Adventure of regulars and Adventuresses of Sherlock were after my time. Austin’s own desire beginning of the fruitful relationship to keep out of the limelight has prob- Sherlock Seattle n early October 2014 an e-mail between Australian architect Derham Holmes dinners that year, a further dropped into my inbox that move by Austin to cement Minnesota’s ably meant his importance to both the Groves and the Library. We had provid- local and international Sherlock Holmes 1 changed my world. “This must be ed Derham with some assistance on the importance in the Holmes world (and distinctly understood,” to borrow one I am sure helped attract additional community has been underappreciated research for his undergraduate thesis, (though it was partially acknowledge by I from Dickens, “or nothing wonder- collections). Reminiscences of a design for a Sherlock Holmes center. his investiture in the Baker Street Irregu- ful can come of the story I am going to He was sufficiently enthused to travel Austin J. McLean relate.” Another project to which Austin made lars in 1990 as The London Library). It and spend nearly a year with us, arriv- can be truly said that no one has had a ing with his wife in that brutally cold vital contributions was a traveling 2 The e-mail, which quickly grabbed my at- exhibit called Investigating Sherlock more important impact on the devel- winter in December, 1983.