Aug 26, 2014
Well, we've done it. We've finally produced a mega-episode. And
what better topic to go all epic on you than the outsized Sherlock
Holmes Collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries?
Our guest this episode is Tim Johnson, Curator of Special
Collections and Rare Books & E. W. McDiarmid Curator of the
Sherlock Holmes Collections at the University of Minnesota
Libraries.
Tim gives us a nice history of the Norwegian
Explorers of Minnesota and the beginnings of the Sherlock
Holmes Collections at the university, which was made possible
through a number of personal relationships. It includes the
additions from the collections of James Iraldi, Philip Hench, Edith
Meiser, John Bennett Shaw and Allen Mackler that have contributed
to the basis of the vast and varied items that number more than
60,000.
We discuss much about the collections,
including the challenge for a curator of books / librarian when it
comes to looking after objects that go far beyond the printed page,
as well as the changing nature of donor relations with respect to
special collections.
But we would have been remiss if we didn't spend time on John
Bennett Shaw, BSI ("The Hans Sloane of My Age"), who was
affectionately known as The Grand Acquisitor and who had all of the
collecting discernment of a vacuum cleaner.
Tim opines on what's next for collectors and the Collections alike,
and gives us a hint as to what to expect as far out as 2016. If
you're a researcher or just a curious Sherlockian, there is much
available to you, either on a visit to the library or to their site
online.
Scott shares a tale of collecting woe - a long sought-after
treasure disappears in the blink of an eye. What's a collector to
do?
We head way back to an early edition of the Baker Street
Journal - 1946, to be exact - to find our inspiration in
"De Jure Inter Gentes" (Vol. 1, No. 3).
More links available on The
Sherlock Holmes Community on Google+, as well as through
our accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
And of course, our web- and
app-based Flipboard magazine and our Scoop.it
page are nice collections of links, articles and images.
Download this episode by right-clicking
the icon and selecting "Save As..." or simply click on the file to
listen, or on the player above. (File size: 50.4 MB, 1:49:58)
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