The Baker Street Irregulars

2025-05-10T19:09:12Z

2601:80:4A00:3130:20C6:D5C3:75CF:9676: /* Membership */ Updated

{{short description|Literary society}}
{{about|the literary society|the fictional characters |Baker Street Irregulars}}

[[File:The Baker Street Irregulars 1940.jpg|300px|thumb|upright=1.1|The Baker Street Irregulars meeting on January 30, 1940. Those pictured include [[Christopher Morley]], [[Frederic Dorr Steele]], [[Robert Keith Leavitt]], and [[David A. Randall]], among others.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bsiarchivalhistory.org/BSI_Archival_History/Ent_%26_Fan.html |title=Entertainment and Fantasy": The 1940 Dinner |website=BSI Archival History |access-date=19 November 2020}} See the section "A Picture of the Crowd".</ref>]]
'''The Baker Street Irregulars''' is an organization of [[Sherlock Holmes]] enthusiasts founded in 1934 by [[Christopher Morley]].<ref name="BSI Harvard">{{cite web |url=http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/deepLink?_collection=oasis&uniqueId=hou02178 |title=Baker Street Irregulars 1923-2007: Guide |author= |website=[[Houghton Library]], [[Harvard Library]] |publisher=[[Harvard University]] |access-date=2015-03-25}}</ref> As of 2015, the nonprofit organization had about 300 members worldwide.<ref>{{cite news |date=March 2015 |title=The Baker Street Irregulars Trust |publisher=[[ZoomInfo]]}}</ref>

The group has published ''[[The Baker Street Journal]],'' an "irregular quarterly of Sherlockiana", since 1946.<ref name="BSI Harvard" /> Members of the society participate in [[Sherlockian game|"the game"]]<ref name="dirda">{{cite web |last=Dirda |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Dirda |date=February 2, 2012 |title=Sherlock Lives! |url=http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2012/02/02/sherlock-lives/ |accessdate=January 3, 2018 |work=[[The New York Review of Books]]}}</ref> which postulates that Holmes and [[Doctor Watson]] were real and [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]] was merely Watson's "literary agent".<ref name="grann" />

== History ==
[[File:BSI-Pratt-Morley-Stout-1944.jpg|right|thumb|Baker Street Irregulars [[Fletcher Pratt]], [[Christopher Morley]] and [[Rex Stout]] (1944)]]

The BSI was an outgrowth of Christopher Morley's informal group, "the Three Hours for Lunch Club," which discussed art and literature.<ref name="annotated">{{cite book|last1=Conan Doyle|first1=Sir Arthur|author-link1=Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|last2=Klinger|first2=Leslie S.|author-link2=Leslie S. Klinger|title=[[The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes|The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1]]|publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|year=2005|pages=lxiii-lxvi|isbn=0-7394-5304-1}}</ref> The inaugural meeting of the BSI was held in 1934 at [[Christ Cella]]'s restaurant in [[New York City]].<ref name="bunson">{{cite book|last=Bunson|first=Matthew|author-link=Matthew Bunson|title=Encyclopedia Sherlockiana: an A-to-Z guide to the world of the great detective |year=1997 |publisher=Macmillan |pages=20–21 |isbn=0-02-861679-0}}</ref> Initial attendees included [[William Gillette]], [[Vincent Starrett]], [[Alexander Woollcott]], and [[Gene Tunney]].<ref name="annotated"/> Morley kept meetings quite irregular, but after leadership passed to Edgar W. Smith, meetings became more regular.<ref name="annotated"/><ref name="tor">{{cite web|last=Faye|first=Lyndsay|title=Inside the Baker Street Irregulars|url=https://www.tor.com/2012/03/22/inside-the-baker-street-irregulars/|website=[[Tor.com]]|date=March 22, 2012|accessdate=January 3, 2018}}</ref>

In February 1934, Elmer Davis, a friend of Morley, wrote a constitution for the group explaining its purpose and stating that anyone who passed a certain test was eligible to join.<ref name="bostrom207">{{cite book|last=Boström|first=Mattias|title=[[From Holmes to Sherlock]]|publisher=[[Mysterious Press]]|year=2018|pages=206–207|isbn=978-0-8021-2789-1}}</ref> This test, a [[crossword puzzle]] by Morley's younger brother Frank, was published in the May 1934 issue of ''[[Saturday Review of Literature]]''.<ref name="bostrom207"/>

Edgar W. Smith led the BSI from 1940 until 1960, initially using the title "Buttons" and later "Buttons-cum-Commissionaire".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bsiarchivalhistory.org/BSI_Archival_History/EWS_pt._5.html |website=BSI Archival History |year=2015 |title=Edgar W. Smith: Prolegomena to Any Future Biography, Part 5 |last=Lellenberg |first=Jon |access-date=February 13, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Wolff"/> Julian Wolff was the head of the BSI from late 1960 to 1986, and used the title "Commissionaire".<ref name="Wolff">{{cite web |website=BSI Archival History |url=https://www.bsiarchivalhistory.org/BSI_Archival_History/Wolff.html |title=Wolff and Still Waters |access-date=February 13, 2021 |date=December 2010}}</ref> From 1986 until 1997, Thomas L. Stix Jr. was the leader of the organization, and used the title "Wiggins".<ref>{{cite web |title=The March of Time |last=Lellenberg |website=BSI Archival History |first=Jon |url=https://www.bsiarchivalhistory.org/BSI_Archival_History/March_of_Time.html |access-date=February 13, 2021}}</ref><ref name="1997 Dinner"/> The title "Wiggins" has since been used for the leadership position.<ref name="1997 Dinner"/><ref name="2020 Report"/>

The organization long resisted admitting women, a policy which spawned a female-centered organization, the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes,<ref name="tor"/> whose founders had picketed an all-male BSI gathering.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dundas|first=Zach|title=The Great Detective|publisher=[[Mariner Books]]|year=2015|page=135|isbn=978-0-544-70521-0}}</ref> The BSI invested its first woman in 1991:<ref name="annotated"/> [[Dame Jean Conan Doyle]].<ref name="bostrom429">{{cite book|last=Boström|first=Mattias|title=[[From Holmes to Sherlock]]|publisher=[[Mysterious Press]]|year=2018|pages=428–429|isbn=978-0-8021-2789-1}}</ref> She was followed by Katherine McMahon, the first woman to solve the crossword puzzle.<ref name="bostrom429"/> McMahon was followed by [[Edith Meiser]],<ref name="bostrom429"/> who wrote numerous Holmesian radio scripts for ''[[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (radio)|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]'' and ''[[The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]''.

Leadership of the BSI passed to Michael Whelan in 1997<ref name="1997 Dinner">{{cite web |url=http://www.bsitrust.org/2016/07/the-1997-bsi-dinner.html |title=The 1997 BSI Dinner |website=The Baker Street Irregulars Trust |date=July 29, 2016 |last=Zeffren |first=Tamar |access-date=February 13, 2021}}</ref> and Michael Kean in 2020.<ref name="2020 Report">{{cite web |url=https://bakerstreetirregulars.com/2020/01/29/the-2020-bsi-weekend-report/ |title=The 2020 BSI Weekend Report |website=The Baker Street Irregulars |date=29 January 2020 |access-date=February 13, 2021}}</ref>

==Membership==
Membership is by invitation only<ref name="tor"/> based on criteria unknown to the public.<ref name="annotated"/> Members take on a name inspired by the canon<ref name="kings"/> with the head of the organization known as "Wiggins".<ref name="annotated"/> As of 2025, the organization has had a total of 760 members, whose names, years of investiture, and pseudonym are listed in the reference volume ''Sherlock Holmes and the Cryptic Clues''.<ref>{{cite web |title=THE INVESTITURED (OR INVESTED) IRREGULARS |url=http://sherlocktron.com/invest.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722120155/http://www.sherlocktron.com/invest.pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 22, 2013 |website=Sherlocktron |accessdate=5 February 2020}}</ref>

===Notable members===
Among the members of the Baker Street Irregulars, past and present:

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Karen Anderson (writer)|Karen Anderson]]<ref name="list">{{cite web |url=https://files.bakerstreetirregulars.com/bsi/bsi-members.pdf |title=The Official BSI Members List and BSI Honours |website=The Baker Street Irregulars |access-date=2024-04-01}}</ref>
* [[Poul Anderson]]<ref name="annotated"/>
* [[Curtis Armstrong]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2017/07/episode-125-revenge-of-sherlockian-nerd.html|title = Episode 125: Revenge of the Sherlockian Nerd}}</ref>
* [[Isaac Asimov]]<ref name="annotated"/>
* [[John Ball (novelist)|John Ball]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[William S. Baring-Gould]]<ref name="kings">{{cite web|last=Kaska|first=Kathleen|title=A Society like None Other: The Baker Street Irregulars Celebrates 80 Years|url=http://kingsriverlife.com/03/29/a-society-like-none-other-the-baker-street-irregulars-celebrates-80-years/|work=Kings River Life|date=March 29, 2014|accessdate=January 3, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Terry Belanger]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[John Stevens Berry]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Anthony Boucher]]<ref name="kings"/>
* [[Herbert Brean]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Jan Burke]]<ref name="kings"/>
* [[Dana Cameron]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Frank Cho]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Bert Coules]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Blumenberg|first=Taylor|title=Episode 71: Bert Coules|url=http://bakerstreetbabes.com/podcast/episode-71-bert-coules/|website=[[Baker Street Babes]]|date= January 10, 2016|accessdate=January 3, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Frederic Dannay]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Basil Davenport]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[David Stuart Davies]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Elmer Davis]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[August Derleth]]<ref name="bsidinner1971">{{cite web|last=Zeffren|first=Tamar|title=The 1971 BSI Dinner|url=http://www.bsitrust.org/2015/10/the-1971-bsi-dinner.html|work=The BSI Trust|date=September 26, 2015|accessdate=January 3, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Michael Dirda]]<ref name="dirda"/>
* The [[Edward Chichester, 6th Marquess of Donegall|Marquess of Donegall]]<ref name="list"/>
* Dame [[Jean Conan Doyle]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Stillman Drake]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Ralph Earle (ambassador)|Ralph Earle, II]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Lyndsay Faye]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Claire|first=Nancy|title=Sherlockian Girl Goes Wilde: An Interview with Lyndsay Faye |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/sherlockian-girl-goes-wilde/#!|work=[[Los Angeles Review of Books]]|date=September 15, 2013|accessdate=January 5, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Robert L. Fish]]<ref name="bsidinner1971"/>
* [[Neil Gaiman]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Zeffren|first=Tamar|title=The 2005 BSI Dinner|url=http://www.bsitrust.org/2016/11/the-2005-bsi-dinner.html|work=The BSI Trust|date=October 31, 2016|accessdate=January 3, 2018}}</ref>
* [[John Gardner (British writer)|John Gardner]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Paul Gore-Booth, Baron Gore-Booth|Paul Gore-Booth]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Richard Lancelyn Green]]<ref name="grann">{{cite web|last=Grann|first=David|author-link=David Grann|title=Mysterious Circumstances|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/12/13/mysterious-circumstances|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 13, 2004|accessdate=January 3, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Michael Harrison (writer)|Michael Harrison]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Zeffren|first=Tamar|title=The 1985 BSI Dinner|url=http://www.bsitrust.org/2016/03/the-1985-bsi-dinner.html|work=The BSI Trust|date=March 12, 2016|accessdate=January 3, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Jeffrey Hatcher]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Herman Herst Jr.]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Ebbe Hoff]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Banesh Hoffmann]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Richard H. Hoffmann]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Nancy Holder]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Laurie R. King]]<ref name="kings"/>
* [[Leslie S. Klinger]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Robert Keith Leavitt]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Robert A. W. Lowndes]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Ken Ludwig]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Bonnie MacBird]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Ronald Mansbridge]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Thomas M. McDade]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Edith Meiser]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Boström|first=Mattias|title=[[From Holmes to Sherlock]]|publisher=[[Mysterious Press]]|year=2018|pages=429|isbn=978-0-8021-2789-1}}</ref>
* [[Nicholas Meyer]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Christopher Morley]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Frank Morley]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[David F. Musto]]<ref>{{cite web|title=In Memoriam: Dr. David Musto|url=https://news.yale.edu/2010/10/13/memoriam-dr-david-musto|website=[[Yale Daily News]]|date=October 13, 2010|accessdate=January 19, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Lenore Glen Offord]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Fulton Oursler]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Will Oursler]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Stuart Palmer (author)|Stuart Palmer]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Otto Penzler]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Svend Petersen]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[H. C. Potter]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Fletcher Pratt]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Michael J. Quigley]]<ref>{{cite web | last=Monty|first=Scott|title=The 2017 BSI Weekend Ended in Friendship|url=http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2017/01/the-2017-bsi-weekend-ended-in-friendship.html?m=1#.WmGMo2JOmaM|date=January 8, 2017}}</ref>
* [[David A. Randall]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Dana S. Richards]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] (honorary)<ref name="Mehegan"/>
* [[Albert M. Rosenblatt]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[S. J. Rozan]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Peter A. Ruber]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Richard B. Shull]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Zeffren|first=Tamar|title=The 1986 BSI Dinner|url=http://www.bsitrust.org/2016/03/the-1986-bsi-dinner.html|work=The BSI Trust|date=March 12, 2016|accessdate=January 18, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Red Smith (sportswriter)|Red Smith]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Vincent Starrett]]<ref name="annotated"/>
* [[Daniel Stashower]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Shashower |first=Daniel |date=July 10, 2015 |title=Why Sherlock Holmes Endures |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-character-who-endures/2015/07/08/b306bc4c-0551-11e5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=2016-01-28 }}</ref>
* [[Frederic Dorr Steele]]<ref>{{cite news |date=July 7, 1944 |title=Frederic D. Steele, An Illustrator, 70 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=990DE1D8133DE13BBC4F53DFB166838F659EDE |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2016-01-28 }}</ref>
* [[Chris Steinbrunner]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Rex Stout]]<ref name="annotated"/>
* [[Eve Titus]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Zeffren|first=Tamar|title=The 1993 BSI Dinner|url=http://www.bsitrust.org/2016/05/the-1993-bsi-dinner.html|work=The BSI Trust|date=May 19, 2016|accessdate=January 3, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Harry Truman]] (honorary)<ref name="Mehegan">{{cite news|last=Mehegan|first=David|url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2005/11/28/guilt_by_association/|title=Guilt by association: For 65 years, a Boston club has made Sherlock Holmes mysteries a scholarly pastime.|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=November 28, 2005|accessdate=January 3, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Manly Wade Wellman]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[J. N. Williamson]]<ref name="list"/>
* [[Douglas Wilmer]]<ref name="list"/>
{{div col end}}

==''The Baker Street Journal''==
The group publishes a periodical, ''[[The Baker Street Journal]]''. The original series of the BSJ was started in 1946, but it ceased in 1949.<ref name="annotated"/> In 1951, Edgar Smith began publishing it again as a quarterly; it has continued publication since that time.<ref name="annotated"/>

==Scion societies==
The BSI has spawned numerous "scion societies",<ref name="bunson"/> many of which are officially recognized by the BSI. The first was The Five Orange Pips of [[Westchester County, New York]], in 1935.<ref name="annotated"/> Independent Sherlockian groups include the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, the U.K.’s Sherlock Holmes Society of London, and Canada's [[The Bootmakers of Toronto]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.bakerstreetirregulars.com/ The BSI website]
* [http://www.bsitrust.org/ Baker Street Irregulars Trust]
*[http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/ The Baker Street Journal]
* [http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.Hough:hou02178 Collection Guide to Baker Street Irregulars Papers 1923–2007] (MS Am 2717), [[Houghton Library]], [[Harvard Library]], [[Harvard University]]

{{HolmesNovels}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker Street Irregulars, The}}
[[Category:Sherlock Holmes]]
[[Category:Literary fan clubs]]
[[Category:Literary societies]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1934]]

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The Baker Street Irregulars