What makes a Sherlock Holmes society?  Suppose you got the idea in your head to start a new Holmes society from scratch, what ingredients would be essential to the mix, and what other ingredients would you want to add for flavor? That’s what I’ve been pondering this weekend.

The most successful Sherlock Holmes clubs have always had a strong center. Usually that center is geographic . . . a concentration of ardent Holmes fans happen to live within a certain radius, and finding each other is the prime requisite for the club. The Baker Street Irregulars is even a good example of a geographic society, as the club primarily exists during one weekend on one end of Manhattan Island. Sherlockians from all over know that if they manage to reside in that one locale on that one weekend, they can connect with other Sherlockians.  And while the thought has occurred, from time to time,  that the Irregulars could move their annual dinner somewhere else for even just one year, that has never happened.  The ties to that one place and part of the year seem to have become too fixed in the homing instincts of many Sherlockians.

That geographic component is arguably the strongest factor in creating a Sherlock Holmes society. Even internet societys have that factor, in a virtual sense . . . the Hounds of the Internet  have an e-mail listserver and an e-mail address that is their unchanging virtual real estate. When the subject of having an actual convention of sorts for the Hounds came up in the past, it always seemed to get vetoed almost immediately . . . for a convention or symposium would mean the Hounds would have to relocate from their virtual realm.  While it would seem very easy for an internet society like Welcome Holmes on Yahoo or the Scandalous Bohemians on AOL to relocate . . . it’s just a web address, right? . . . it rarely happens. Having found a gathering place, Sherlockians don’t like to tempt fate by moving it.

Many a Sherlock Holmes society has centered on a person as much as a place. One energetic and charismatic Sherlockian can gather an entire society around himself or herself pretty easily. Some of our most charming Sherlockians have also been the greatest club starters, and even though a club might seem geographically based, it was only because that one bright beacon of an individual  was in that area when they decided to form a club. These clubs don’t move well either . . . once the center of attention moves on or passes away, they have a hard time holding their focus, and often come apart.

All clubs have a core, be it a place, a person, an idea, or just a mutual  respect.  That’s where  they start. But where do you go from there?

The evening before last, my friend Hobbs and I were considering the founding of yet another Sherlock Holmes society.  I’m not sure why we were considering this, perhaps it is just that we’re fickle and no Holmes groups have ever commanded our full attention.  Maybe it’s a bit of Chris Morley syndrome.  But whatever the reason, we tossed around a few ideas like dining in cities mentioned in the Canon, as well as a few names for the group. The most popular one even had a song,  which goes like this:

“Weeeeee’re theeeee . . . . . Sherlockalifragilisticexpialidocians.
“You might see us anywhere, even across the oceans,
“If you listen close enough, you’ll hear our silly notions,
“We’re the Sherlockalifragilisticexpialidocians!”

I suppose a club could exist just to sing its club song. But it just seemed like we needed a society with a little higher purpose in the realm of Holmes.  What could that be? Dinners, newsletter, and all the S.O.P. things that make  a society a tangible, visible sort of thing? Giving out awards to our friends and other worthies?  Serving some greater Sherlockian cause?

Or maybe just making a regular committment to hanging out with a certain group of Sherlockian friends would be enough. That’s what it winds up being all about in the end, I think.

Your humble correspondent,

Brad Keefauver