Shaw, John Bennett

Epithet: book collector

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001150.0x000050

The Baker Street Irregulars (as an organization) was founded in 1934 by Christopher Morley (and others), and continues to meet annually in New York City. (See Jon Lellenberg's multi-volume BSI Archival Series for a fuller historical treatment of the organization.) Local scion societies of the BSI are found world-wide, many of them producing newsletters or serial publications. John Bennett Shaw (1913-1994), possibly the pre-eminent Sherlockian collector, gathered most of these publications. Additions were made after the Shaw collection moved to the University of Minnesota.

From the description of Sherlockian periodicals, 1950-1999. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 320187933

From the guide to the Sherlockian periodicals, 1950-1999, (University of Minnesota Libraries. Special Collections and Rare Books [speccoll])

John Bennett Shaw was born October 10, 1913, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He attended the University of Notre Dame (A.B., cum laude, 1937), pursued graduate work at Columbia University (1937-1938), and completed a M.A. in literature from the University of Tulsa in 1940. In 1965, Shaw was invested in the Baker Street Irregulars as "The Hans Sloane of My Age." He was given the Two Shilling Award by the BSI "for extraordinary devotion to the cause beyond the call of duty" in 1980.In his retirement, Shaw moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, where he (along with his wife, Dorothy) continued to build what became the largest private collection of Sherlockiana in the world. He was well-known across the Unites States and abroad for his lectures on Sherlock Holmes, and his classic work, "The Basic Holmesian Library," (colloquially known as "The Shaw 100") remains a valued bibliography among collectors. In the mid-1980s Shaw arranged for the transfer of his collection to the University of Minnesota, a process that was completed a decade later. Shaw died in Sante Fe on October 6, 1994.

From the description of Papers, essays, and miscellanea from the collection of John Bennett Shaw, 1902-1993. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 320187931

Noted author, Willa Cather was born in Virginia in 1876, from where she moved, along with her family, to the Nebraska Prairie, which is depicted in some of her most well-known novels. Many of the works of this great novelist of the 1910s and 1920s relate the experiences of pioneer life on the Nebraska frontier. Cather was educated at the University of Nebraska. She served as a teacher, and later as the managing editor of McClure's Magazine. In 1912, she left McClure's and began publishing novels. O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, My Antonia, A Lost Lady, and Death Comes to the Archbishop are a few of her numerous publications. Her subject matter includes the pioneers of the West, colonial New Mexico, 18th century Catholic Quebec, and pre-civil war Virginia. Cather was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1940 she was awarded the Gold Medal for Fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1931, Cather was the first woman to receive an Honorary Degree from Princeton University in recognition of her contributions. She was fairly secretive about her personal life. Cather died in New York in 1947 at age 70.

Harry Sylvester (1908-1963), of Irish descent from Brooklyn, New York, graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1930. In 1931, he worked as the Midwest correspondent for the New York Evening Post, and as a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, before turning to freelance work. Sylvester published short stories in publications such as the Commonweal, Collier's, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Columbia, Western Review, and Scribner's . His novels include Big Football Man (1933), Dearly Beloved (1942), Dayspring (1945), Moon Gaffney (1947), A Golden Girl (1950) and a collection of short stories titled All Your Idols (1948). While his short stories reflect his travels in Mexico, and his final novel centers upon his visits to and residence in Peru, the majority of his work revolves around the theme of Catholicism in contemporary America. At least two of his novels ( Dearly Beloved and Moon Gaffney ) are considered anti-clerical. Dayspring deals with the Penitente sect of New Mexico.

From the guide to the J.B. Shaw Collection on Willa Cather and Harry Sylvester, 1909-1974, 1923-1967, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)

John Bennett Shaw was born October 10, 1913, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He attended the University of Notre Dame (A.B., cum laude, 1937), pursued graduate work at Columbia University (1937-1938), and completed a M.A. in literature from the University of Tulsa in 1940.

From 1938 to 1959 Shaw was secretary-manager of the Bennett Drilling Company in Tulsa. During that same period he was an instructor in literature at the University (1939-1940) and owner/manager of the Tulsa Book and Record Shop (1942-1954). From 1956 to 1970 Shaw served as funeral director of the Fitzgerald Funeral Service and from 1966-1970 as a lay director of the Catholic Center, also in Tulsa. In addition, Shaw chaired the Friends of the Tulsa Public Library twice between 1957-1970, was administrative chairman of the Tulsa City/County Library System (1961-1967), chairman of the Oklahoma Council of Libraries (1964-1966), member of the University of Notre Dame Library Council (1964-1970), the Oklahoma State Department of Libraries (1966-1970), and board member of St. John's Hospital School of Nursing (1962-1970).

Shaw held memberships in the American Library Trustees Association (secretary, 1968), Southwestern Library Association (second vice-president), Oklahoma Library Association (chairman, trustee division), Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (knight commander), and the Baker Street Irregulars. He received the Citizen's Recognition Award from the Oklahoma Library Association in 1965 and the Citation of Merit from the American Library Association in 1968. In 1965, Shaw was invested in the Baker Street Irregulars as "The Hans Sloane of My Age." He was given the Two Shilling Award by the BSI "for extraordinary devotion to the cause beyond the call of duty" in 1980.

In his retirement, Shaw moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, where he (along with his wife, Dorothy) continued to build what became the largest private collection of Sherlockiana in the world (and where he continued to share his knowledge and collections with the many pilgrims who visited Sante Fe or contacted him by mail or telephone). He was well-known across the Unites States and abroad for his lectures on Sherlock Holmes, and his classic work, "The Basic Holmesian Library," (colloquially known as "The Shaw 100") remains a valued bibliography among collectors. In the mid-1980s Shaw arranged for the transfer of his collection to the Univeristy of Minnesota, a process that was completed a decade later. Shaw died in Sante Fe on October 6, 1994.

From the guide to the Papers, essays, and miscellanea from the collection of John Bennett Shaw, 1902-1993, (University of Minnesota Libraries. Special Collections and Rare Books [speccoll])