One (Or Two) Events of Importance in Town

Well, that escalated quickly.

Last week's post, An Open Letter to Steven Moffatt, garnered over 5,600 views as of today.  Wow.  What I had intended to just be a post for me to vent about Moffatt's handling of his viewers and the characters they enjoy really blew up!

And, for the overwhelming amount of you that had nice words to say about the post whether you agreed with me or not, thank you.  I love that there are a lot of us out there that can connect with one another and share our opinions.

And for the few that felt the need to tell me that my opinion wasn't valid, that's your opinion.  And I am happy to give your opinion just as much validity as you gave mine.

Moving on!

I live in Edwardsville, IL, about 20 minutes east of St. Louis, MO.  So, St. Louis is naturally my Sherlockian hub.  And what a hub it's becoming!  We have five active scion societies in the city and suburbs, and a history of others that have come and gone throughout the city's history.  Dr. Gray Chandler Briggs of St. Louis, first identified the real 221B Baker Street as 111 Baker Street on a trip to London in the 1930's.  Other notable Sherlockians such as Philip Shreffler, Pasquale Accardo, and many others have called St. Louis their home.

But I'm not here to talk about the past (although I could listen to the stories about it all day long...).  What gets me really excited is the POTENTIAL of St. Louis's future in Sherlockiana.

Yesterday, the Noble Bachelors of St. Louis held its annual meeting.  Typically, this is a dinner, with a noted speaker, quiz, and socialization.  What we got yesterday was all of that and more!  Instead of the typical venue of the past few years, The Noble Bachelors took the opportunity to use this year's meeting to unveil the Sherlockian Research Collection at the St. Louis Public Library's Rare Books and Special Collections Room.  This collection houses a complete run of The Baker Street Journal, as well as many other texts for research use by ANY Sherlockian who wishes to visit St. Louis.

Although I've talked about the collection before, this was my first time seeing it on display.  And let me tell you, it looks much nicer than when it was in all of those boxes I had to help move!  The Parallel Case of St. Louis blog will have a recap and write up of the Noble Bachelors event and the dedication of the library next week, and I will be sure to link to that story in my next post.

Man, I love Sherlockian gatherings!  I was honored to be recognized as the Noble Bachelor of the Year by the group.  But also, a bunch of Sherlockians got together and talked about Sherlock Holmes!  (It was an added bonus that we were in a truly beautiful library.  Talk about ambiance!)  I knew most of the people in the room, but don't get to see some of them on a regular basis.  It was great to touch base with folks and meet other Sherlockians that I've only known by name.

And this is what I'm really excited for when Holmes in the Heartland happens in August.  The Parallel Case of St. Louis just released the first details for the event, happening August 10-12.  And, I'm a little biased, but I think the lineup of speakers is a very impressive one!  I'm just going to quote the Parallel Case's website here:

Confirmed speakers include:

Tim Johnson,  curator of the Sherlock Holmes Collections at the University of Minnesota

Mary Schroeder, founder of the St. Louis Sherlockian collection and longtime St. Louis Sherlockian

Bill Mason, BSI, author of "Pursuing Sherlock Holmes" and former Head Light of The Beacon Society

Tassy Hayden, fan fiction writer and co-host of the wildly popular The Three Patch Podcast

Brad Keefauver, BSI, blogger at Sherlock Peoria and author of "The Elementary Methods of Sherlock Holmes"

Don Hobbs, BSI, owner of the largest foreign language Sherlockian book collection

C'mon.... tell me this isn't a group you would want to hear speak?  We have a few other presentations that haven't been confirmed yet, so there will be more to announce soon!

We also wanted to hold some optional events on Friday and Sunday to allow for people's different travel plans.  Friday night will be the Welcome to St. Louis Blues Carbuncle and 221BBQ Night, featuring a tour of the National Blues Museum and dinner at Sugarfire Smokehouse in downtown St. Louis.  And Sunday, there will be a high tea at The London Tea Room and a tour of the Becker Medical Library on the campus of Washington University.

I can go on and on about how much I'm looking forward to this event and how great the people planning it are, but this post has been long enough already.  Registration for Holmes in the Heartland opens in May, so mark your calendars.   Please come at once and join us there. A jemmy, a dark lantern, a chisel, and a revolver are optional.