Sherlock Holmes Comes to Columbus
Catherine Morris
The game’s afoot!
COSI opened a new exhibit on Feb. 8 called The International Exhibition of
Sherlock Holmes, where visitors can learn more about the history of the famous literary character, discover forensics from the Victorian era and help Holmes solve a crime.
But just who is this famous investigator?
Sherlock Holmes is the main character found in four novels and 56 short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. However, writing wasn’t always his profession.
Doyle attended medical school at Edinburgh University. While attending school, Doyle served as an assistant in the ward of his professor, Dr. Joseph Bell, and became fascinated with Dr. Bell’s power of observation.
“He could look at your hands, your feet, whatever, and he could tell pretty much all about what was going on with this particular patient,” Sherry Rose-Bond, founder of the Sherlock society The Clients of Sherlock Holmes, said.
Dr. Bell’s ability left an impression on Doyle and became a source of inspiration.
“It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes,” Doyle wrote in a letter to Dr. Bell, “and though in the stories I have the advantage of being able to
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2-2-2-2 place him in all sorts of dramatic positions I do not think that his analytical work is in the least an exaggeration of some effects which I have seen you produce in this out-patient ward.”
The power of observation is what Jaclyn Reynolds, public relations and social media manager at COSI, hopes visitors take away from the exhibit.
“I hope that they really hone their observation skills and really learn about the science of deduction, the scientific method of testing a theory and really working through it to try and find the answers,” she said.
This is accomplished through the multiple stations within the exhibit. First, visitors will learn about the history of Holmes and Doyle, and discover artifacts like handwritten manuscripts of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
“I think it’s really important to tell the historical story behind Sherlock
Holmes,” Reynolds said. “They love the character, and so for someone who considers themselves a Sherlockian, to be able to see things like the first editions or the manuscripts in Arthur Conan Doyle’s handwriting, it’s really special and really unique.”
Next, visitors explore the forensics that were available to police and detectives in the Victorian era. Rose-Bond enjoyed this section because it displayed the technology available at the time.
“I liked the section where they looked at Victorian forensics, because we’re
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3-3-3-3 so inundated with all these various CSI kind of programs that we kind of think, ‘Well, look at all this scientific stuff. It must be now that it’s taking place…’” she said, “but this exhibition showed us what was available to detectives, to the police, at the time of Sherlock Holmes was practicing.”
The power of observation kicks into gear when visitors go to 221B Baker
Street: the home of Holmes and his partner Dr. Watson. There, visitors conduct a scavenger hunt and receive their assignment from Sherlock Holmes.
After getting details of the case, visitors are tasked with using the skills from the Victorian forensics area and their own observations to investigate a potential murder. Reynolds recommends taking your time at each station.
“You might have a theory in your head, but I would check all of them just to make sure,” she said. “And that was something that Sherlock Holmes would always say, you know. ‘Don’t trust what appears to be obvious.’”
Once they’ve solved the case, visitors will move on to the final station to see artifacts from the modern Sherlockian world, like props from Elementary, Sherlock, and the Robert Downey, Jr. movies. They can also learn more about modern forensics through videos by current forensic specialists.
2014.
The case will remain open for investigation until the exhibit closes Sept. 1,
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