Sherlocking In Minneapolis – Part 1
By Don Hobbs

Finally I was able to escape from a month long assignment in the west Texas wasteland called Odessa. I was there for weeks without a single inkling of anything Sherlockian, that is until my last day onsite. This was when I met a young bartender working at my hotel. In a bout of idle conversation, I asked the young girl where she was from and to her surprise, I knew exactly where she grew up. She was from Moriarty, New Mexico. She said I was the only person she had ever met that knew where Moriarty was located. Obviously, I was the only Sherlockian she had ever met. Her name was Olivia Santillanes and she is the only resident of Moriarty I have ever spoken with. The other residents I had met just stared at me and the other Sherlockians who used to descend there to the Frontier Saloon for the “Unhappy Birthday You Bastard Celebration" by The Brothers Three of Moriarty, but this is for another story.

In the blink of an eye, I was transported from the furthest reaches from the Sherlockian world to right smack in the middle of it. Minneapolis is considered by many as the Mecca of the Sherlockian world. I am working in Duluth, Minnesota this week and the closest spot I could fly to there using American Airlines was Minneapolis. I certainly did not hesitate when I made my reservations. Since I was using the company nickel, I chose a flight that allowed me to get in early and send time with some of the local Sherlockians.

Dick Sveum, the sage of the north, arranged to pick me up at the airport and whisked me to his house where I had a delightful couple of hours admiring his library. Please excuse me for the next couple of paragraphs where I am going to blatantly drop the names of famous Sherlockians libraries that I have visited.

I have been to the libraries of the late John Bennett Shaw and the late Allen Mackler. I have been Jerry Margolin’s late collection and the last two incarnations of Peter Blau’s library. I have been to Les Klinger’s and Saul Cohen’s libraries. I have visited Bob Burrs’ and Brad Keefauver’s collections along with the libraries of the Dallas Sherlockians but Dick’s library stuck out and will be as memorable to me as all of the other Sherlockian collections I have seen. 

Anyone can amass a collection but it is the rare individual who has the passion, the drive, and the willingness to explore every tangent of a topic. Dick owns many extraordinary pieces of Canonical, Sherlockiana, Doyliana, and bibliophilia that is rewarding to be around. His library included works by John Kendrick Bangs; Vincent Starrett, Christopher Morley, H.G. Well, G.K Chesterton, and Doyle and so many others. Like any great collector, Dick reveled in pulling pieces out from a shelf and telling stories behind each one and then the stories related to several other pieces all interconnected in a way only a collected fully understands.

My time ran out too quickly. Dick drove me back to the airport and I picked up a car and drove to Duluth, where I will working this week. I am fortunate with my job allowing me to visit Sherlockians around the country. If anyone has the opportunity to be in Minnesota, try to arrange a visit with Dick Sveum, Sage of the North.

Happy Collecting!!