I was humbled to be invited by Rob and Peter to write a chapter for this book, and intimidated to learn that it was John Bennett Shaw they wanted a biography on. Why intimidated? Well, I never met Shaw, but many who read the biography will have. Would I be correct? I felt comforted knowing that Steve Doyle would be helping edit the volume, and I spoke with a number of people who did know Shaw including Peter Blau, Evy Herzog, Ray Betzner, and Derham Groves who provided a wonderful anecdote for me.
My policy is to share to my blog a version of any article I publish. This is usually a late draft or submitted version (the equivalent of a scientific preprint), often with extra pictures added for context. This is to allow people who can't afford, or can't get hold of the original publication to still have a chance to read my Sherlockian writings.
Without further ado here is the draft biography on John Bennett Shaw.
John Bennett Shaw
Matthew D. Hall
They say you should never meet your heroes, yet people traveled from far and wide to make the pilgrimage to the door of John Bennet Shaw. His vacuum-cleaner strategy forcollecting Sherlockiana, his evangelical approach to educating others about the Sherlockian world, and his open-door policy for visitors from across the country and the world created an aura around his name. Shaw was a constant correspondent with many, and his expansive collection was donated in his lifetime to the University of Minnesota Library where it remains today, and set a precedent that others have followed to make material available to scholars in perpetuity. Shaw was Shaw-ly one of the greatest Sherlockians of the twentieth century, and his influence on the direction of the Sherlockian movement will never extinguish.
Perhaps the key to understand when interpreting Shaw’s ever-presence in the Sherlockian world, and how he engaged with it, is to know that no one had more fun with Holmes. It was a Grand Game, and one of friendship, fun, and mischief. Shaw was conspicuous in his Sherlockian fervor, and even his car carried the personalized plate SHERLOK. It is Shaw who is reputed to have first said “to have a Sherlockian meeting you need two Sherlockians and a bottle, but in a pinch, one of the Sherlockians could be dispensed with”. His name forever lives on at the University of Minnesota library where the world’s largest collection of Sherlockian works, The Sherlock Holmes Collections, includes all of Shaw’s volumes.
Shaw’s life
John was born in 1913 in Tulsa, OK, and that is where he lived for most of the next five decades. He was deeply involved in literary circles there, even raising funds to build the library, and he served on its board. As a boy Shaw discovered Sherlock, and after college he committed to a life of collecting. In 1938 he married Margaret Mary Fitzgerald, and they had two children-a son, Patrick, and a daughter, Katie. Margaret died in 1969 aged 54. Shaw was a dedicated Catholic with a love of G.K. Chesterton (his first collection was of Chesterton and this he donated to Notre Dame), attended Notre Dame for college, and was a successful businessman including directing a funeral home, an oil drilling company, and a bookstore. Shaw joked that all three jobs involved holes - the first two in the ground, and the latter required a hole in the head.
Shaw the collector
In the introduction to Ron De Waal’s Universal Sherlock Holmes, Shaw summarized his approach to creating a collection:
"I am interested in Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the world in which they live. So what do I do? I obtain as many books, pamphlets, periodicals, Holmes Society publications, video and audio tapes, and other materials such as statues, puzzles, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, and even a Professor Moriarty toilet seat as I can.”
At its peak it was said to be the largest privately held Sherlockian collection in the world, containing some 12,000 books, 3,500 periodicals, 30,000 clippings in alphabetically arranged notebooks, and a vast amount of other Sherlockian ephemera. Delightful ‘home video’ recordings exist of visits to Shaw’s home library, following him as he provides comedic commentary on books and his experiences in acquiring them. In a 1991 home video, Shaw fakes embarrassment over the number of volumes in the library, saying “Everything is now 60% double rows (of books). It’s like having a harem. It’s just disgraceful, but there’s nothing I can do”.
Many of the questions asked by visitors to the library were answered in a 16-page booklet John published in 1991 titled ‘Collecting Sherlockiana - An Essay by John Bennett Shaw, BSI.’ John didn’t just collect books in English - he owned over 2,000 volumes in languages including Braille, Pitman and Gregg Shorthand, Esperanto, and Pig Latin. The original essay was in a limited edition, but was re-published by Catherine Cooke along with the Shaw 100 list (Rupert Books, 1998, and see below). Shaw writes in his essay ‘It is not a shelf of books, nor is it a collection. It is a library…. I fully agree with Vincent Starrett that when we are collecting books, we are collecting happiness’.
In October 1995, one year after Shaw’s death, his library was dedicated as part of the new John Bennett Shaw Collection at the University of Minnesota. Shaw had joked in the early 90s that when all the books were boxed and ready to ship to the MN, “the number of boxes came to 221”.
The Baker Street Irregulars
Shaw was given the canonical investiture of “The Hans Sloane of My Age” when made
a Baker Street Irregular in 1965, later served as “Simpson” (secretary), and received the rare Two-Shilling Award in 1980. Julian Wolff conferred Shaw with a name referenced in the canonical story The Three Garridebs. In the story, Nathan Garrideb is tricked into believing he will soon receive five million pounds just for being a Garrideb. Garrideb exclaims to Holmes:
“Five million dollars was the sum named. There are a dozen specimens in the market at the present moment which fill gaps in my collection, and which I am unable to purchase for want of a few hundred pounds. Just think what I could do with five million dollars. Why, I have the nucleus of a national collection. I shall be the Hans Sloane of my age.”
Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) was a British physician and President of the Royal Society. Sloane’s greatest fame came as a collector of plants and books, which became the foundational collection of The British Museum (just around the corner from where Conan Doyle once lived!). Shaw recognized the commonality of two consummate collectors, and Wolff also forecast that Shaw would follow in Sloane’s steps, organizing for his collection to move to a public institution.
Shaw the Correspondent
Shaw's written output was dominated by private correspondence, almost all at a typewriter and on his personalized stationary. Hw mentored generations of new Sherlockians, answered questions, and gave advice. Steven Spielberg once flew a script by private jet to Shaw’s home for review and comment.
A highlight of their correspondence were the greeting cards that the Shaw’s sent every Christmas. One of his last cards (1992) highlighted his support of the relatively new policy of allowing women to be inducted into the BSI:
“I have selected the happy lady and the sad dog to suggest that the female is off to join The Baker Street Irregulars and that the grumpy hound depicts the minority of the members of this unusual organization who have been disturbed by the change in policy.”
Shaw was truly progressive in this regard. In 1968, a Picket Line protest was held outside Cavanagh’s Restaurant by women frustrated at the male-only membership rules of the BSI - a formative event in the history of the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes (ASH). Evelyn Herzog has related that Peter Blau and Shaw were the two BSI members who came down to remedy matters. They took the protesters into the bar for cocktails and to hear their perspective. It was Shaw who undertook to carry a statement from the picketers to Dr. Wolff. Versions of the story differ, but Shaw was a key participant in those historic events, and his Christmas card over two decades later enforces his open-hearted view that the Sherlockian world be inclusive, not exclusive.
This enlightened view didn’t stifle Shaw’s commitment to collecting though. A letter from Dorothy Rowe Shaw in the second ASH newsletter (July 15, 1975) states that “John was quite upset that he did not receive the newsletter — he xeroxed mine and gave me the copy.” (!!!)
The Shaw 100 and other publications
While formal publications were a lesser part of Shaw’s output, what he did create had a profound impact. In particular he was the creator of the famed ‘Shaw 100’ - not so much a publication as a list that Shaw created and circulated in the latter half of the 1970s.
As early as 1977, John Shaw distributed an annotated list of 100 “books, pamphlets, and periodicals” that he considered essential for ‘The Basic Holmesian Library'. The Shaw 100, as it came to be known, was a pivotal piece that helped make Shaw famous in Sherlockian circles. The list had its genesis in an exhibition Shaw organized - and the list was inspired by the catalog of that first exhibition. At workshops (see below) Shaw would distribute the list, and it would be copied and distributed and travel hand-to-hand across the Sherlockian world. Shaw’s list attempted to list One Hundred items that would give one an in-depth view of the entire Holmesian culture. A consequence of course is that owning the books on the list could be achieved by very few - it included Starrett’s ‘Unique Hamlet’ (1920) of which only sixty or so copies were created, but thankfully not the Beeton’s Christmas Annual (which Shaw once passed up an opportunity to purchase and always regretted).
Shaw revised and optimized the list multiple times over the years. In 1995 the list was updated by E. W. McDiarmid and Peter Blau for the official dedication of Shaw’s collection at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis - and with a focus on more attainable items. The list also became the inspiration for those created by others.
Aside from the essay on collecting mentioned earlier, Shaw also published two quiz books: the ‘Ragged Shaw: The Master Sleuth Quiz Book’ (Gasoline Press, 1987), and the ‘Really Ragged Shaw: Being The Expanded Ragged Shaw’ (The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1994). The title of each is a delightful nod both to the author and to the grove of trees referenced in The Priory School. The origin of these two publications lay in the diabolical quizzes that Shaw was notorious for creating and bringing to almost every scion meeting and conference that he had organized. For example, attendees of the second Shaw workshop in 1983 were set ‘Holmeswork’: “The cases around which the quizzes will revolve are The Stockbroker’s Clerk and The Problem with Thor Bridge. Participants are encouraged to bring a copy of the Holmes Canon and a copy of Starrett’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.” Menacing!
Shaw’s notoriety as a luminary and his magnetism meant that he was regularly provided introductions for the works that others were publishing. Shaw also assisted Ronald De Waal in writing his phenomenal bibliography ‘The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson’ (1974), by making his Sherlockian collection available to him in Tulsa and later in Santa Fe. De Wall spent an extended period of time (ninety-seven days, twelve hours a day!) examining and cataloging the items in Shaw’s library for his book. In 1994, Shaw wrote the introduction for De Waal’s multivolume bibliography, ‘The Universal Sherlock Holmes’. In the introduction, Shaw wrote ‘Ronald De Waal and his prodigious and ambitious literary project are a success — for him a triumph; for me a justification for being a one-subject collector. It is De Waal who made my efforts worthwhile.’ Shaw died just before the bibliography was published.
The Sherlock Holmes workshops
Shaw launched the first of his Sherlock Holmes Workshops in 1977. Held over five days at his alma mater Notre Dame (IN), the first event was likely intended to be a one-off. The first Shaw Sherlock Holmes Workshop was a full five-day event, but subsequent workshops evolved into weekend events, Friday thru Sunday. John was the main presenter and a faculty of invited guests (most often, noted Sherlockian scholars), presented Sherlockian papers and film clips. There were book discussions, sing-alongs, and one or more of Shaw’s devilish quizzes (described above). This structure became the template for Sherlock Holmes Symposia that were organized from 1977 to 1993, a dozen or so meetings in all.
The Sherlockian world is a broad church, and Shaw’s workshop agendas accommodated all viewpoints and areas of interest. The workshops drew people from across America, and speakers such as the English Holmesians Michael Hardwick & Michael Harrison, the legendary actress and Sherlock script-writer Edith Meiser, and luminaries like Leslie Klinger. It is also clear that Shaw was spreading awareness far and wide, with workshops in all parts of the country. Workshops were mainly held at institutions of education, including prestigious locations such as Johns Hopkins, William & Mary, and Stanford.
These meetings were a critical entry point for many new Sherlockians. While there had been a few conferences prior to Shaw, his meetings set the standard for conferences such as those organized by the Baker Street Irregulars, and other regular meetings that now exist across the country. Legendary Sherlockian Ray Betzner shared his memories of first meeting Shaw at his first Sherlock conference:
“My first Shaw workshop was in 1980 in Pittsburgh. I was very new to the Sherlockian world and had been corresponding with Shaw for several years. When I pulled into the parking lot at Duquesne University, I saw the man himself in front of me: large and graying with a bolo tie and a Sherlock Holmes belt buckle struggling mightily to hold in his girth. Being a bit of a smart aleck, I opened my car door and approached him with my hand out, saying “You have lately been in Santa Fe, I perceive.” John squinted at me with his one good eye and replied, “I can’t place your face, but I’ll try to forget it.” We both laughed and so it began.”
“The talks on Saturday were a revelation… After the banquet on Saturday, Shaw came up to me and asked if I had any plans. I did not. He invited me up to the large corner dorm room he and Dorothy were sharing. A very shy woman, whom I later learned was Evy Herzog, was knitting and giggling in the corner. Dorothy Shaw was talking miniatures with Maureen Green. Ann Byerly raced in at one point to play on the flute the introduction of the Universal Sherlock Holmes films that she had just taught herself. And through it all John kept up a commentary of anecdotes, observations and horrible puns. It was, in short, a total delight.At some point I sat back and realized I had found my people. And I’ve never looked back.”
Shaw’s scions
Shaw’s influence on the Sherlockian community was profound. John and Dorothy travelled to Sherlockian events across the U.S., including Baker Street Irregulars dinners, and local scion meetings in multiple states. Known as the “Johnny Appleseed of Sherlockian Scions,” he helped many Sherlock Holmes groups launch their scion activities.
When in Tulsa and immersed in public library management, Shaw co-founded the Sub-Librarians Scion of the BSI. It was first convened by Shaw in 1967 at the American Library Association (ALA) annual conference in San Francisco, and he ran the scion till 1972. It continues as an active scion - genius really - as its membership is not geographic, but based on profession.
In NM, Shaw started the Brothers Three of Moriarty scion society, a group which - appropriately - met in the small town of Moriarty. The scion also sponsored the Annual Colonel Moran Trap shoot, and an annual event called “UN-happy Birthday (Moriarty You Bastard)". Presentations were given, toasts were lifted (sometimes with explicit language), a quiz was conducted, songs were sung, and the finale was the “Recessional”: a procession to the Moriarty memorial manure pile with the annual deposit, which was then converted into a bonfire. In 1987 Shaw wrote that ‘Our deposits this year included Texas long-horn, Sea Gull and Coyote’, and in earlier years Governors and Senators had sent contributions. The trap-shoot event included skeet-shooting competitions, and there was also a target featuring the silhouette of Moriarty’s henchman, Colonel Sebastian Moran.
Derham Groves created a delightful book "You bastard Moriarty : being a consideration of the collectability of ephemera related to the greatest detective that never lived, Sherlock Holmes” (Black Jack Press, 1996). It includes photographs of the now-closed Frontier Saloon in Moriarty. Groves relates that one year while the members of the Brothers Three of Moriarty were taking feces to add to the Moriarty Manure Pile outside the saloon, "one of the town drunks buttonholed John and slurred: "Hey Shaw, I jus' wanna let you know that we all appreciate you bringing some culture to this fucking town” !!!
Shaw’s bookplate
Shaw’s bookplate deserves mention - it one of of the iconic Sherlockian images - it was debuted by Shaw in his 1969 Christmas letter. The title of the card was "On Choosing a Library for a Desert Island" and states "The shelf of the best books: books for pleasure, books for reference, books for mental expansion, books for peace of mind, What books would you choose?” Shaw then included an excerpt from an essay upon this subject taken from "The Anatomy of Bibliomania" by Holbrook Jackson, and finishes by revealing ‘I have made my choice and here it is pictured on my new Bookplate’:
The legacy
The great news about Shaw is that - for now - he is very much in living memory. If you want to learn more about Shaw, the Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual for 2023 titled ‘John Bennett Shaw Remembered’ has a collection of articles that cover personal recollections of many of the areas described in this chapter. Furthermore, the December 1990 issue of the Baker Street Journal was edited by Philip A. Shreffler as a surprise tribute to Shaw, with articles by many of his friends. This article used those sources, and critically the marvelous site maintained by Jim Hawkins (www.johnbennettshaw.com that has collected an incredible range of primary materials on John Bennett Shaw and made them available to the world.
While the author of this article did not know Shaw, he marvels at the immense and enduring influence that Shaw has had on the Sherlockian world. It is intimidating to create an overview of a person within living memory. If I could get in a time machine and transport myself to one Sherlockian time and place, it would surely be to New Mexico, to shadow JBS around his library as he shared stories of his books, to travel with him to Moriarty NM for a scion meeting, and I would bring with me some exotic dung to add to the ancient pile of manure - all for the fun of the Grand Game.
When Shaw died, Peter Blau wrote in his Scuttlebutt newsletter some fitting closing remarks: “John was unique in many ways, but I think the most important of all his achievements was that he was such a good friend to so many of us… I think it was the fun he found in the world of Sherlockians that was most important to John, far more so than the things he collected”.
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