The Baker Street Irregulars

The Baker Street Irregulars is an organization of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts founded in 1934 by Christopher Morley.[1] The nonprofit organization numbers some 300 individuals worldwide.[2] The group has published The Baker Street Journal — an "irregular quarterly of Sherlockiana" — since 1946.[1]

History

Baker Street Irregulars Fletcher Pratt, Christopher Morley and Rex Stout (1944)

The BSI was an outgrowth of Christopher Morley's informal group, "3 Hours for Lunch" which discussed art and literature.[3] The first inaugural meeting of the BSI was held in 1934 at Christ Cella's restaurant in New York City.[4] Initial attendees included William Gillette, Vincent Starrett, Alexander Woollcott, and Gene Tunney.[3] Morley kept meetings quite irregular but after ceding leadership to Edgar W. Smith, meetings became more regular.[3][5]

The organization long resisted admitting women, something not altered until 1991.[3] This policy spawned a female-centered organization, the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes.[5]

Members of the society participate in "the game"[6] which postulates that Holmes and Doctor Watson were real and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was merely Watson's "literary agent".[7]

Membership

Membership is by invitation only[5] based on criteria unknown to the public.[3] Members take on a name inspired by the canon[8] with the head of the organization known as "Wiggins".[3] Since its inception, the organization has only had 683 members.[9]

Notable members

Notable members of the Baker Street Irregulars include the following:

The Baker Street Journal

The original iteration of the BSJ was started in 1946 as an academic journal but it ceased in 1946.[3] In 1951, Edgar Smith began publishing it again as a quarterly and it has continued publication since that time.[3]

Scion societies

The BSI has spawned numerous "scion societies",[4] many of which are officially recognized by the BSI. The first was The Five Orange Pips of Westchester County, New York in 1935.[3] Others include Canada's The Bootmakers of Toronto.

References

  1. 1 2 "Baker Street Irregulars 1923-2007: Guide". Houghton Library, Harvard Library. Harvard University. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  2. ↑ "The Baker Street Irregulars Trust". ZoomInfo. March 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur; Klinger, Leslie S. (2005). The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. lxiii–lxvi. ISBN 0-7394-5304-1.
  4. 1 2 3 Bunson, Matthew (1997). Encyclopedia Sherlockiana: an A-to-Z guide to the world of the great detective. Macmillan. pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-02-861679-0.
  5. 1 2 3 Faye, Lyndsay (March 22, 2012). "Inside the Baker Street Irregulars". Tor.com. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  6. 1 2 Dirda, Michael (February 2, 2012). "Sherlock Lives!". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  7. 1 2 Grann, David (December 13, 2004). "Mysterious Circumstances". The New York Times. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Kaska, Kathleen (March 29, 2014). "A Society like None Other: The Baker Street Irregulars Celebrates 80 Years". Kings River Life. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  9. ↑ Lynch, Michelle N. (January 28, 2018). "Exeter man admitted to exclusive Sherlock Holmes literary society". Reading Eagle. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "List of Invested BSI, Two-Shilling Award Recipients, and The Woman" (PDF). BSI History Resources. The Baker Street Irregulars Trust. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  11. ↑ http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2017/07/episode-125-revenge-of-sherlockian-nerd.html
  12. ↑ Blumenberg, Taylor (January 10, 2016). "Episode 71: Bert Coules". Baker Street Babes. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  13. 1 2 Zeffren, Tamar (September 26, 2015). "The 1971 BSI Dinner". The BSI Trust. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  14. ↑ Claire, Nancy (September 15, 2013). "Sherlockian Girl Goes Wilde: An Interview with Lyndsay Faye". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  15. ↑ Zeffren, Tamar (October 31, 2016). "The 2005 BSI Dinner". The BSI Trust. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  16. ↑ Zeffren, Tamar (March 12, 2016). "The 1985 BSI Dinner". The BSI Trust. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  17. ↑ "In Memoriam: Dr. David Musto". Yale Daily News. October 13, 2010. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  18. ↑ Monty, Scott (January 8, 2017). "The 2017 BSI Weekend Ended in Friendship".
  19. 1 2 Mehegan, David (November 28, 2005). "Guilt by association: For 65 years, a Boston club has made Sherlock Holmes mysteries a scholarly pastime". The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  20. ↑ Shashower, Daniel (July 10, 2015). "Why Sherlock Holmes Endures". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  21. ↑ "Frederic D. Steele, An Illustrator, 70". The New York Times. July 7, 1944. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  22. ↑ Zeffren, Tamar (May 19, 2016). "The 1993 BSI Dinner". The BSI Trust. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
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