The Baker Street Irregulars Trust NewsletterFOR THE SAKE OF THE TRUST

Fall, 2008

THE BAKER STREET IRREGULARS ARCHIVE AT HOUGHTON LIBRARY

By Peter X. Accardo

"You can flie it in our archives, Watson.Some day the true story may be told."

Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventureof the Retired Colourman"

The death of Harold Bell came as a shockto me," wrote Vincent Starrett to EdgarW. Smith on September 5th, 1947. "Ihope his papers can be acquired for thearchives." Starrett's wish did not come topass, however, as the H. W. Bell collec-tion of Sherlockiana was deposited in1948 in Houghton Library, the principalrare books and manuscripts library at Har-vard University, by an anonymous donorto benefit the Speckled Band of Boston,the second scion society of the BakerStreet Irregulars. The momentous deci-sion reached in August of 2003 by

Michael F. Whelan ('Wiggins") and Wil-liam P. Stoneman, Florence FearringtonLibrarian of Houghton Library, to depositthe BSI Archive at Houghton Library hasat long last united these two great collec-tions, representing a most welcome fulfill-ment of Starrett's original wish. It is alto-gether fitting that Starrett's letter toSmith, quoted above, is one of the manytreasures in the BSI Archive that has nowcrossed the library's threshold.

Over the past five years, BSI membersworldwide have responded to the call forarchival materials that document the his-tory of the BSI, from its memorable in-ception in 1934 to the present day. The"Added to the Archives" column in thisnewsletter has listed many significant and

Continued on Page 2

In This Issue:

THE BAKER STREET

IRREGULARS ARCHIVE

FROM THE CHAIR byThomasJ. Francis, BSI

The Trust has been the recipient of many generous gifts duringthe past several months. We have received a considerable quantityof material. Many Sherlockians have gone through their flies, dig-ging out correspondence, papers and ephemera and sending it tothe Trust. In a number of cases the quantities have run to severalcardboard boxes. Trustee Bob Coghill is making his way throughthe donations with great care. Not every donation has yet made itsway to The Houghton Library at Harvard University. This has notimpeded scholarship, as arrangements have been made so that un-catalogued material has been provided to scholars who were doingactive research. Not all of the material

Continued on Page 5

FROM THE CHAIR

BAKER STREET IRREGU- 4

LARS TRUST NEWS IN

BRIEF

A NOTE FROM 4

DON IZBAN, BSI

GIFTS TO THE

TREASURY

PHOTOS OF THE SALT

LAKE CITY SYMPOSIUM

SPEAKERS

THE CARDINAL POINTS 8

THE BAKER STREET IRREGULARS ARCHIVE AT HOUGHTON LIBRARY

Continued from Page 1

THE 1962 SILVER BLAZE AT

AQUEDUCT, NY.

LEFT TO RIGHT:

S. TUPPER BIGELOW,

REX STOUT, ALEC ROBB, THE

JOCKEY, UNIDENTIFIED MAN,

JULIAN WOLFF AND TOM

STlX, SR.

Page 2

interesting donations that have alreadyreached the library's shelves, "for the sake ofthe trust." The archives now fill numerousboxes. Their depth and richness issuggested by the diversity of formatsrepresented therein: personalcorrespondence, financial records, toasts,dinner menus, investitures, books, proofs,scholarly papers, photographs, maps,recordings, CDs, DVDs, and othermemorabilia. BSI publications such as TheBaker Street Journal, The BSI ArchivalHistory Series, The BSI International Series,and The BSI Manuscript Series have alsobeen donated. Not surprisingly some gapshave been identified and every effort will bemade to fill them. The Trust continues tolook for rare and unique materials that shednew light on the history of the BSI. Evenwith so auspicious a start, the archiveremains a work in progress, formed not byone creator but by many hands. Its fullnessand utility will depend on the continuedgenerosity of the Irregulars.

Since 2003 the BSI Trust has convened atthe Harvard Faculty Club to discuss thearchive and its future on many fronts. Forexample, Susan Pyzynski, Houghton's

Associate Librarian for Technical Ser-vices, has been in touch with Ben Vizos-kie about archiving digital photographstaken at recent BSI events. Thomas A.Horrocks, Associate Librarian for Collec-tions, is working closely with members ofthe Trust in planning the library's forth-coming symposium, "Sir Arthur ConanDoyle: A Sesquicentennial Assessment"and in publishing "The Adventure of theThree Students" manuscript, at Harvardsince 1925, in the BSI Manuscripts Series.And discussions are now underway be-tween the Trust and library staff about asearchable finding aid for the BSI Archiveto be mounted in HOLLIS, Harvard'sonline catalogue. When completed thisfinding aid will resemble the one createdby Elizabeth Falsey for the Speckled Bandcollection of Sherlockiana, which can beconsulted at:

http:// n r s. h a rv a rd. e d u / urn-3:FHCL.Hough:hou00063.

This project is scheduled to begin in thesummer of 2009 to coincide with the li-brary's Doyle celebration. Until then abinder comprised of the original donationsheets created by BSI Trust member andarchivist Bob Coghill will be kept at theHoughton Reading Room desk to facili-tate access to the as-yet-uncataloged col-lection.

Rare items from the BSI Archive will bedisplayed for the first time in '''EverWestward": Sir Arthur Conan Doyle inAmerican Culture," an exhibitionmounted for Harvard's forthcomingDoyle Sesquicentennial celebration onThursday, May 7, through Saturday, May9,2009. These items will be featured in acase dedicated to the early history of theBSI. Selecting a relatively small numberof items from such a trove has proven tobe a difficult though not unenviable task.

Continued on Page 3

THE BAKER STREET IRREGULARS ARCHIVE AT HOUGHTON LIBRARY

The exhibition and related programs will run throughAugust 15, 2009.

"The preservation of the past and its records creates thebasis for a solid and viable future," noted ChairmanThomas J. Francis in his recent mission statement for theBSI Trust. "Houghton Library is pleased to be in closepartnership with the BSI and looks forward to presentingits archive to a new generation of Sherlockians," adds

Continued from Page 2

Houghton Library's Tom Horrocks. "The Irregulars havedemonstrated uncommon dedication to the Trust, and thelibrary is honored to be the custodian of their benefac-tions." The best measure of their generosity will be theways in which the archive will be put to use by scholars in-terested in the history of the BSI, its programs and publica-tions, and the biographies of its distinguished members.Needless to say, the "true story" of this "singular set" willcontinue to be told.

Vincent Starrett's letter to Edgar W. Smith, dated September 12, 1947

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BAKER STREET IRREGULARS TRUST NEWS IN BRIEFHarvard's Houghton Library to Sponsor Symposium

and Exhibition to Celebrate Arthur Conan Doyle's

Sesquicentennial in 2009

The year 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of the birthof Arthur Conan Doyle. To celebrate his life andworks, Harvard's Houghton Library will host a sympo-sium and mount a major exhibition to honor the manwhose enduring contributions to the post-Victorianworld include the creation of modern detective fictionand the genre's most famous literary character, SherlockHolmes. The symposium will be held on Thursday,May 7, through Saturday, May 9, 2009, and will coin-cide with the opening of a major exhibition at Hough-ton Library: ':'Ever Westward': Sir Arthur ConanDoyle in American Culture".

The exhibition, which will run from May 4, throughAugust 15, 2009, will feature rare books, manuscripts,and ephemera from Houghton's collections, the ar-chives of the Baker Street Irregulars, and private collec-tions.

The symposium aims to broaden our understanding of

A Note from Don Izhan, BSIThe July 2008 SBIOS Post featured this editorial by DonIzban about the BSI Trust. With Don's permission, we'rereproducing it.

The BSI Archives at Harvard-Why Is This Project Im-portant?

For at least two reasons (apart from the fact that thisworthwhile endeavor is an opportunity for you to pay backsomething to the glorious hobby that servesyou so well)

First, presuming the Sherlockian values of those who arepart of the past shall always prevail in some way in all of us(a reasonable, possibly irrefutable, premise), we MUSTtake the time and make the effort to record, preserve, holdclose, and refer to the actual works, validated history, andrelated memorabilia of the likes of Christopher Morley,Elmer Davis, John Bennett Shaw, Vincent Starrett, EdgarW. Smith, et al. In doing so, we learn from what hascome before us and subsequently benefit from it. Con-versely, if we do not bear witness to our ancestors "granddoings," we will undeniably be the poorer for it -

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Doyle in light of recent biographical studies to examine theenduring popularity of the Canon and to revisit the non-canonical fiction, historical and social writings; and to wit-ness Doyle's literacy legacy as promoted by literary societiesand through teaching. Confirmed speakers, session chair-persons, and participants include Peter X. Accardo, JohnBergquist, Peter E. Blau, Giles Constable, John Constable,Thomas Francis, Thomas A. Horrocks, Leslie S. Klinger,Andrew Lycett, Eve Mayer, Julie McKuras, GlenMiranker, Richard Olken, Daniel Posnansky, ConstantineRossakis, Steven Rothman, Charles J. Rzepka, DanielStashower, Randall Stock, William P. Stoneman, and Mi-chael Whelan. The conference will conclude with a galadinner and musical program of Sherlockian songs per-formed by Henry Boote and W. Scott Monty II, under thedirection ofJudge Albert M. Rosenblatt and Dr. Julia Carl-son Rosenblatt.

Details on symposium registration will be announced thisfall, so please check this page periodically.

http://hcl. harvard.edu/libraries/houghtonldoyle symposium.html

intellectually, and in terms of participating in the wonderfulpastime as best we could.

Second, the purpose of the Baker Street Irregulars andALL Sherlockians, for that matter, is to keep the memoryof Sherlock Holmes green. There is no better way toachieve that for ourselves, as well as for non-Sherlockians,than to maintain in one prominent, prestigious, and acces-sible place an authentic living story of the BSI and otherpersonage devoted to the "Sacred Writings" and to bolstersuch history with appropriate documentation(correspondence, photographs, informal writings, officialpapers and other meaningful records - BUT NOTBOOKS, the archives are not intended to be a library.)

Or course, such an archival institution exists now at Har-vard University, providing everyone who may be interestedin what the study of Sherlock Holmes is all about with anaccount of accomplishment, BSI style.

Qyestions? Comments? Want to know how you can sup-port YOUR archives? Don Izban can be reached at 1012Rene Court, Park Ridge, IL 60068-2068 or by phone at847-292-1270.

FROM THE CHAIR byThomasJ. Francis, BSI Continued from Page 1

received has been correspondence. For example, we had anice package donated by Paul Singleton. Paul wrote an arti-cle for The Baker Street Journal on The Duane Hotel, thesite of the first BSI meeting. He sent his notes, researchmaterials, floor plans and an old menu. Future scholars willhave this background material available to assist in furtherresearch. Our vital message is that it is more than merelypreserving our history. It is also maintaining scholarly re-sources in a strong academic setting that makes the work ofThe Trust important to future generations of canonicalscholars.

Sherlockians who are not trustees have been doing much ofthe work of the Trust. Let me tell you of a just fewwho arepart of this speckled band:

1) Don Izban and Dorothy Stix are working very hardtracking down and speaking to BSI members as well asfamily and friends of Irregulars who have passed over theReichenbach. Our hope is that we can capture as muchmaterial as possible before it becomes lost, thrown away orotherwise dispatched.

2) Mary Ann Bradley has taken on the responsibility forour outgoing correspondence. Mary Ann has tracked do-nations, then created and typed the thank you letters thathave been signed by Glen Miranker, Costa Rossakis, MikeWhelan or me. As the trustees experienced a changeover inresponsibilities, her un-dying detective work has made cer-tain that we have been able to identify every gift and thankall donors.

3) Randall Stock has been instrumental in trying to get ourdocumentation processes up to date. He created a methodfor gift tracking that will make Mary Ann's job easier in thefuture. Randall is in the process of refining and repairingour website, making sure that everything is current andthere are no broken threads.

4) Ben Vizoskie has been taking pictures during BSI eventsfor several years, and those photographs will be sent to TheHoughton Library at Harvard University. Resolving thedigital image format questions, as well as planning a suit-able storage medium for the digital images, the traditionalimages and perhaps even spirit photography is much morecomplicated than anyone would imagine. Ben has beenworking with the Houghton Library to determine how best

to do this to suit both their needs as well as those of theTrust. It's an ongoing process, and we'd like to thank SueVizoskie for her assistance as well.

The Trustees are grateful to these people and the manyothers not mentioned by name who are working with theevolving goals of The Trust.

Tom Francis" BSI

GIFTS TO THE TREASURY

Kiyoshi Arai

Daniel M. Polvere - contributed his honorarium for hisSherlockian presentation made at the LincolnTown Library

The Trained Cormorants - in memory of Robert Pattrick

Frances George - in memory of Phil Sherman

Margaret Smedegaard - in memory of Paul Smedegaard

Michael Whelan and Mary Ann Bradley - in memory ofPaul Smedegaard

The BSI Trust welcomes all monetary gifts as well asmaterial contributions to the archives.

Monetary donations should be sent to:

Leslie S. Klinger, BSI10866 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1500Los Angeles, CA 90024-4357Tel. (310) 475-1444Fax (310) 475-2459

If the financial donation is in honor or memory of someone, please indicatethe appropriate name.

If you are passing on a contribution from a third party, please include thename and address of the donor so that we can acknowledge the donationwith a thank you letter from the BSI Trust.

Questions regarding material contributions to the archives should bedirected to:

Thomas J. Francis, BSI43 Mann Hill RoadScituate, MA 02066-2110

Page 5

Greg Darak, Mike Berdan, Hartley Nathan, Leslie Klinger,

Steve Doyle, Ben Vizoskie and Gideon Hill

Michael Whelan and Steve Hockensmith

Peter Blau, Mikel Vause, Michael Homer, Curtis Armstrong,

Will Bagley and Michael Whelan

Mikel Vause and

Michael Whelan

Henry Boote

Page 6

I,

"The Contents of the Bag ... "

ADDED TO THE ARCHIVESThe following papers were presented at the A Study inScarlet Expedition to The Country of the Saints, August29 - September 1, 2008. They were also printed in thebook A Tangled Skein, A Companion Volume to The BakerStreet Irregulars' Expedition to The Country of the Saints.

Will Bagley's paper, "Violence in the Mormon West."

Marshall Berdan's paper "Playing with Dynamite: theLiterary Fuse that Led to the Explosion of A Study inScarlet."

Peter E. Blau's paper, "Angels of Darkness Revisited."

Henry Boote's songbook, "A Study in Scarlet Sing-A-Long."

Greg Darak's paper, "Angels of Darkness" and A Study inScarlet:- Can they Both Be True?"

Steven T. Doyle's paper, "Advent Sherlock: The Story ofBeeton's Christmas Annual 1887."

Clifford Goldfarb's paper, "Arthur Conan Doyle and theDorando Mfair: How Rumours Become Facts," pre-sented by Leslie Klinger.

Gideon Hill's paper, "Mormonism 101."

Steve Hockensmith's "Go West, Young Englishman: Ar-thur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet and the Birth of theWestern."

Leslie Klinger's compilation of the Power Point presenta-tions made by the various speakers at the Salt Lake City AStudy in Scarlet Expedition to The Country of the Saints,August 29 - September 1, 2008. Also included were themanuscript materials for A Tangled Skein, A CompanionVolume to The Baker Street Irregulars' Expedition to TheCountry of the Saints.

Hartley R. Nathan's paper "A Study in Scarlet: Wherethe Police Failed, Sherlock Holmes Succeeded."

Mikel Vause's paper "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: TheRighter of Wrongs or Exposing the Crimes of the Mor-

"mons.

Ben Vizoskie's paper, "The Country of the Saints" -Fact or Fiction?"

Donald Pollock's manuscript for "The City of the Saints:Richard F. Burton in Salt Lake City." Although not pre-sented at the symposium, it was published in the compan-ion volume.

In addition to the above papers:

John Stevens Berry's booklet "Richard Lesh and the Mai-wand Jezails in the 1960's."

Robert Brooks's nine boxes of files and ephemera that be-longed to Bob Hahn. This includes notebooks, scrap-books, and folders.

Ron DeWaal's boxes of ephemera and files.

Susan Diamond's correspondence files with Bob Hahn,Dick Lesh and Steve Clarkson.

Bill Hyder's toast given at the 1997 BSI dinner.

Julie McKuras's speech and PowerPoint presentation for "IHear of Sherlock Everywhere ... " presented at the New-berry Library, Chicago, on October 4, 2008.

Don Terras's paper and PowerPoint presentation for "TheSign of Four and Development ofSherlockian Chicago"presented at the Newberry Library, Chicago on October 4,2008.

If you have a copy of a toast or presentation given at theBSI Dinner or other BSI event, please contact:

Julie McKuras BSI13512 Granada Ave.Apple Valley, MN 55124

Or email atmike9750@ao1.com

Page 7

The Cardinal Points

Please remember to check the website http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/doyle symposium.html for updates on the upcoming symposium. We hope to

~ see you there.

~ JlA.LLe McKlA.\"CLS, ASH-, 'R,Sr

We have a number of people to thank for their articles in this issue of the BSITrust Newsletter. First, Peter Accardo has written a most interesting account ofthe B SI Trust Archives from the perspective of a Curator. Peter also provided pho-tos of a few of the holdings from the Archives, representative of what Peter notedas "the diversity of formats represented therein: personal correspondence, financialrecords, toasts, dinner menus, investitures, books, proofs, scholarly papers, photo-graphs, maps, recordings, CDs, DVDs, and other memorabilia."

Don Izban, who is working with Dorothy Stix in contacting Irregulars, has contrib-uted his editorial about our "glorious hobby" which was previously published in theJuly 2008 SBIOS Post. Chair Tom Francis has provided an update on the manypeople working to add items to the Archives.

The Trust archive is located in the Houghton Library at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The archival materialmay be used by any qualified Sherlockian, subject to the normal rules and regulations ofthe library.

BSITrust OfficersPeter E. BlauBob Coghill, ArchivistThomas Francis, ChairLeslie S. Klinger, Secretary-TreasurerJulie McKuras, Newsletter EditorDaniel PosnanskyConstantine RossakisSteven RothmanBill Vande Water, ArchivistMichael F.Whelan, Wiggins

Or, send email to:mike9750@aol.com

You received this copy of The BakerStreet Irregulars Trust newsletter becauseyou are on the mailing list of The BakerStreet Journal or are a member of theBaker Street Irregulars. If you are not

interested in receiving further issues, orhave comments and/or suggestions,

please contact:Julie McKuras13512 Granada Ave.Apple Valley, MN 55124

IFO. THE SAKE OF THE TRUST

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 documents for the study of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sher-

lock Holmes and Dr. Watson, the Victorian world and the individuals and organizations like the BSI that have devoted themselves

to such studies. The Trust has a special interest in preserving materials relating to the history of the BSI, its members and friends.

About Donations to the Trust

The Trust seeks primary materials about the history ofthe BSI and the Irregulars. These may consist of corre-spondence, photographic and audio materials, manu-scripts of historical documents, biographical material,newspaper clippings and magazine articles. It can alsoaccept valuable Sherlockian books that may be sold toraise funds for the Trust.

The Trust does not intend to create a collection that du-plicates the Sherlock Holmes Collections at the Univer-sity of Minnesota or the Arthur Conan Doyle Collectionof the Toronto Metropolitan Reference Library and sodoes not actively seek editions of the Canon or scholarlyworks unless the material has a direct bearing on the history ofthe BSI or the Irregulars.

The Trust is a 501(c)(3) organization, and contributions aretax-deductible under Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Ser-vice Code.

To deduct a non-cash donation of $5,000 or more, the donormust arrange and pay for a qualified appraisal. Contributionsof $250 or more will be publicly acknowledged; for non-cashitems, however, tax regulations prohibit the Trust from ac-knowledging the dollar value of the donation in this newsletteror The Baker Street Journal.

The initial step in making a donation is to contact one of thetrustees. You can find contact information on the Baker StreetIrregulars Trust web site, www.bsitrust.org.

Page 8 For a wealth of information, please visit the Baker Street Irregulars Trust on the web at www.bsitrust.org.