March 2014 UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Volume 18 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) 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. The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes at the 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 Center of Science and Industry (COSI) 8 Continued on page 6 8 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 1 cott and I were delighted in October for the Jane Austen Society with various types of blood splatter, to have been invited to the of North America’s Annual General footprints, poisonous plants, seeds and Media Preview of the Interna- Meeting, I felt that I was seeing some berries, and even had to assemble a S tional Exhibition of Sherlock old friends in a new setting. broken bust of Napoleon. The mystery Holmes at COSI earlier this month. Each of the galleries of the exhibition was created by Dan Stashower, and I presented a unique aspect of the world observed even the most cynical mem- Sherlock Holmes Our delight at the invitation was noth- ing compared to the delight we experi- of Sherlock Holmes. We spent a great bers of the Fourth Estate really getting COLLECTIONS enced as we observed and participated deal of time exploring (and trying our involved in work-ing out the solution. in the Exhibition. Those two words hand using) the forensic tools available We next went on the gallery displaying “Your merits should be publicly recognized” (STUD) actually highlight what we particularly to Holmes and other Victorians; quite collectibles. It was fun to fnd items p liked about the experience. There were unlike the innumerable tools available that we have in our col-lection but, at vast numbers of things to see and to to scientists today. the same time, it was frustrating to see Contents do as we made our way through the all the things we don’t have! On the Road with Sherlock Holmes Our next stop (far too short and worth We ended up in the area displaying separate sections of the exhibition. On the Road with his past October, Julie McKuras attended the premiere of “The International another visit or two) was in the Sit- costumes and props and photographs Sherlock Holmes Exhibition of Sher-lock Holmes” at the Oregon Museum of Science and We were gratifed to see an entire gal- ting Room at 221B. You actually walk from the three most re-cent mani- Industry (OMSI) in Portland. I was very pleased she could attend, especially lery devoted to the life and works of through the room and we were guided festations of Mr. Holmes: the Robert 1 as I was unable to travel west due to a previous engagement at the annual Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (as too many to look for some specifc items. We Downey, Jr. flms, the BBC’s Sherlock T conference of the Minnesota Library Association. Readers will remember her 100 Years Ago Sherlockians give him short shrift). Sherlocki-ans, of course, examined and CBS’s Elementary. This made the account of the opening from our last newsletter. Allow me to add a few more observa- There were many, many treasures on every detail. The designer, Geoffrey whole experience feel contemporary 2 tions as we continue to follow Mr. Holmes across country. display, far too many to list here. A Curley, walked through it with us, and timeless and reminded us, in the 50 Years Ago Even before the formal signifcant number of items through- asking our opinion. What could we say words of Vincent Starrett that “here opening at OMSI, the out the Exhibition are on loan from other than that we felt as if we were dwell together two who never lived 3 show generated some the this very Collection and, as I actually there! and so can never die.” “buzz” on social media. had the good fortune to spend some From the President On the “GeekDad,” blog time, through the kind offces of Tim On to the centerpiece of the Exhibi- Sherry Rose-Bond, BSI, ASH 4 senior editor Jonathan Johnson and Julie McKuras, to visit the tion: a crime scene that allowed each of Liu wrote: “Today is the opening of the Inter- us to play detective.