John Bennett Shaw (obituary)
John Bennett Shaw (1913-1994) is an obituary written by Peter E. Blau published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 5, 1994).
Obituary
'I do have a pretty good Holmes collection,' John Bennett Shaw wrote to an itinerant would-be geologist who had arrived in Oklahoma in 1959 to work on a master's degree. And John extended an invitation to visit him in Tulsa, noting that 'I'd love to exhibit my material and talk the jargon.'
That is the first letter from John in my files, which also show that it was not until 1962 that his invitation resulted in a visit, and a tour of his library, which is as memorable today as it was impressive then. And it is certainly true that it was his collection that won him fame in the non-Sherlockian world ('I collect with all the selectivity of a vacuum cleaner,' he would explain), and that made his Investiture in The Baker Street Irregulars as 'The Hans Sloane of My Age' so appropriate.
But it is not as a collector that John was so impressive, and so memorable, in the world of Sherlockians, but rather as a friend, and as someone who wanted to be helpful and generous. It was easy to make friends with John, because he was interested in people, far more than in the things he collected.
He was an energetic correspondent, with a multitude of people he had never met, and in some cases never would meet. And he was a gracious host to those who made pilgrimages to visit him, in Tulsa and Santa Fe. And despite the time that correspondence and visitors demanded, he was quick to provide introductions and prefaces and forewords to books written or edited by others.
John loved to tell stories, about books and authors and people, and he was interested in far more than Sherlock Holmes. His first real job was drilling oil wells in Oklahoma (where he drilled wells in a field not far from Tulsa that still produces oil near the hill that was later to be named Holmes Peak), and for a time he owned and managed Tulsa's only book store, and he was a funeral director (and had as many startling tales to tell about funerals as he did about Sherlockians). And he worked hard at being a husband and a father and a grandfather, and was thoroughly successful (I suspect that his wife Dorothy often breathed a sigh of relief that there was only one Sherlockian in the family).
Dorothy humoured and supported John in his mania (he didn't object to that word, since it was proudly used by the Canonical character who made the boast about being the Hans Sloane of his age). There are many people now who have created miniatures of the sitting-room at 221b Baker Street, but few indeed who have created, as Dorothy did, the entire house, with all its furnishings, at a scale of one inch to the foot. Of course John loved that miniature house, provided he didn't have to dust it.
He liked to encourage people in whatever they did, as collectors (and he certainly provided a wonderful example for me in that regard), as Sherlockian scholars (offering both advice and information from his files), and especially in getting Sherlockian societies underway, both with advice from afar and in person. 'All that's needed for a Sherlockian society is two people and a bottle,' John liked to explain. 'And in an emergency you can dispense with one of the people.' John loved to attend Sherlockian meetings, entertaining and being entertained by his friends, old and new.
When he moved to Santa Fe, he was delighted to discover that he lived not all that far from Moriarty, New Mexico. Almost a hundred miles isn't all that far in New Mexico, so most of the meetings of The Brothers Three of Moriarty were held in Santa Fe. But there was always the annual dinner in Moriarty, at the Frontier Saloon, and always on Thursday. 'The owner won't let us meet there on Friday or Saturday,' John once noted. 'The cowboys are there on Friday and Saturday, and he's afraid that if they discover there are a bunch of people in the back room who read books, they'll shoot us.'
When he founded the society, twenty years ago, John thought it would be appropriate that Professor Moriarty have some sort of memorial in the town, but was worried that a statue or commemorative plaque would quickly be used for target practice by the locals. He therefore invented a memorial that could not be vandalised. This year's annual dinner marked the society's twentieth anniversary, and at the end of the festivities his friends adjourned to the vacant lot next to the saloon to re-christen the Moriarty Memorial Manure Pile. He was proud of that memorial, and the many contributions made to it by people who had sent carefully-packed samples from far-away countries such as Australia (kangaroo) and Saudi Arabia (camel). At the end of the ceremony the memorial sign is returned to the Frontier Saloon and reverently stored away, of course, for use next year.
There are many other ways in which John will be remembered: by The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, who when they were six college girls picketing the annual dinner of The Baker Street Irregulars in 1968 ('BSI Unfair to Women' was only one of the signs they carried), were invited in out of the cold by John, but only to the downstairs bar; by many who have attended one or more of the many Sherlockian workshops and conferences he masterminded; by those who have been ambushed by the pun-filled quizzes he devised as challenges to those who mistakenly thought that answers were more interesting than questions; and by visitors to his collection, which is now part of the Special Collections in the Wilson Library at the University of Minnesota.
And as a friend. John had not been in the best of health in recent years, but he still tried to keep up with his mail, mourned not being able to watch his Chicago Cubs play baseball (because of the strike), and enjoyed rooting for Notre Dame's football team (which he was able to do on 2 October, the day he died). John once said that he had presided over too many funerals to take them seriously, and that the best way to celebrate an absent friend is with a drink and a story. His friends will be happy to do just that.
Peter E. Blau
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
