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On view Oct. 3, 2016 - Jan. 28, 2017
Main Gallery, Hill Memorial Library

When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published the first Sherlock Holmes story in 1887, he could not have known that within a decade, his fictional detective would take on a life of his own. The four original Holmes novels and 56 short stories, in fact, have inspired thousands of derivative works, from pastiches and parodies to films, plays, musicals, radio broadcasts, comics, graphic novels, video games, and even cookbooks. A vast scholarly literature on Holmes and Doyle also exists, shedding light on the Victorian super sleuth and his equally fascinating creator, who played a key role in raising public awareness of forensic science and modern crime-scene investigation techniques.

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Russell Mann, a retired professor of journalism at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, recently donated a large selection of Sherlock Holmes fiction, scholarship, and memorabilia. Mann started building the collection in the 1990s. It is especially strong in “non-canonical” fiction (Holmes stories written by authors other than Doyle), comic books and graphic novels featuring Holmes, and rare scholarly publications, including journals of Holmes societies from around the world. Reflecting the full spectrum of "Sherlockiana," the Russell Mann Sherlock Holmes Collection is sure to pique the curiosity of the purist and iconoclast alike. It joins the ranks of about a dozen major Holmes collections in the United States and is one of the largest in the South.

"Investigating Sherlock" introduces visitors to the wide variety of material available for research, from canonical "Adventures" to modern Zombies, and all points in between.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. For more information visit lib.lsu.edu/special or call (225) 578-6544.